


The Lokitty Will Mew

by Arabesqueangel



Series: Time Stone [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Cat Loki (Marvel), Fluff and Humor, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Lokitty, M/M, POV Loki (Marvel), POV Tony Stark, Shapeshifter Loki (Marvel), Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2019-11-07 21:44:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17968595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arabesqueangel/pseuds/Arabesqueangel
Summary: So.... Loki's a cat. Which isn't that weird considering he's a shapeshifter. Mostly it's a typical Friday. Except that Loki can't seem to turn back.It's hilarious... until it's not.





	1. In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods, they have not forgotten this

**Author's Note:**

> Look at me! Posting two fics in one day! 
> 
> The ideas just keep coming for this little AU that I love so much. Also, i needed a whole fic where Tony and Loki didn't get separated because that hurt my heart.
> 
> (Chapter title Quote from Terry Pratchett)

“We come from the land of the ice and snow. From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow.” 

Tony walked into the kitchen to one of his favorite sights. Loki was dancing around, singing along to whatever was piping in through his earbuds. Also, he was cooking eggs. Tony loved eggs. Especially at 3 am after a long science binge. Tony swooped in, kissed Loki on the cheek and tried to steal a piece of toast and got his hand slapped for the effort. 

“I’ve been meaning to introduce you to Immigrant Song. I knew you’d like it.” 

Loki smiled, “Valhalla I am coming for you.” He continued singing. 

“How the hell do you learn song lyrics so quick?” Tony marveled. Sure, he had what was just shy of an eidetic memory, but he was special. 

Loki took out his earbuds. “My brain was designed to retain five thousand years of memory. I think I can manage a two-minute song with significant lyric repetition.” 

“Touché,” Tony acknowledged. “And here I was happy with my above average mortal brain. Shit, I’m going to be able to remember the centuries like you, right? I’m not going to be stumbling around all forgetful?” 

Weird questions like these kept coming to mind at the strangest times. He’d accepted the apple from his love two months ago and it still hadn’t quite stuck that he was going to live as long as Loki. 

“Of course, you will, love. It’s no different than your strength being augmented. You are, for all essential purposes, Asgardian.” Loki turned back to start two more Eggs in a Basket. 

“Ok good.” The strength was pretty nice. He didn’t have to use a jack to work on his cars anymore and it was much easier hauling around suit components. Also? Sex. So very many uses for sex. Tony was sure there were probably some other advantages to super strength, but he hadn’t gotten around to any of them yet. 

“Some of this is for me, right?” Tony said, eyeing the stack of about ten already made slices. That was one downside, Asgardian metabolism. It was super annoying to have to eat so much. Then again, hunger was also more easily ignored in the thick of things, but it always came back to bite him in the ass. 

“If you’re good.” 

“And how are we defining good?” Tony asked, intrigued at where his lover was going with this. 

“We are not. I, however, am defining it as I wish. It is up to you to figure it out. Now how will you be good to me, Tony?” Loki said his name in that rumbling purr of his that always got Tony’s engines going. 

The things Tony did for food. He immediately dropped to his knees and Loki’s grin was as wide as the proverbial cat who ate the Tweety-bird, or something. Tony nuzzled into the space between Loki’s groin and thigh, inhaling his lover’s smell through the clean, soft cotton. He pressed sucking kisses onto Loki’s length until the half-interested became fully erect and straining. 

Loki hummed in pleasure as Tony slid the pants down and the trickster widened his stance as Tony dove right back in. Tony tongued at the tip before licking his way down to Loki’s balls, finishing with a firm squeeze of his hand. Loki moaned his name and long fingers dug their way into Tony’s hair. 

Tony then got to the real work, sliding the erection into his mouth. He relished his new strength as he slid his hands to Loki’s ass and gripped firmly so that Loki couldn’t control the pace. Loki whimpered a bit at the lack of control, and it made Tony laugh around the length in his mouth. Loki’s whimper drew out into a moan at the vibrations his laugh had caused. With a firm grip, Tony bobbed his head up and down, just barely letting the cockhead hit the back of his throat. He quickened his pace and he could feel Loki fighting not to thrust his hips under his hands. Finally, he took the erection all the way into his throat until his nose touched his lover’s groin. He created as much suction as humanly possible with something that big choking him, but it was worth it when Loki came with a shout. 

Tony did nothing to lessen the smug smirk on his face at the noises of pleasure or the fact that he was now able to get straight up after crouching on the floor with absolutely no creaking joints. When he was, mostly, face to face with Loki again, he leaned in for a kiss and ended up with an egg filled piece of toasted bread in his mouth. Loki patted him on the head and turned around to flip over the food currently cooking. Tony swatted his ass and Loki yelped, but when he turned around, he wasn’t frowning, but smiling. 

“Honey?” Tony asked sweetly. 

Loki raised an eyebrow at him, “Yes dear?” He replied back just as sweetly. 

“No, honey. Get some for me? I’ve done my part for this whole cooking endeavor.” Tony responded before finishing up the food in his hand. 

Loki laughed and used a spatula to toss the final two slices on the stacked high plate and turned off the burners. He walked over to the refrigerator and opened the cabinet above it. 

“You mean this honey?” Loki said, gesturing to it without even having to go up on his toes, bastard. “I don’t understand why you didn’t just get it yourself, sweetheart. You know I don’t take honey with my breakfast.” 

“Spell couldn’t make me just a few inches taller could it? That would have been too much to ask. Stupid giant boyfriend.” Tony grumbled. 

Loki grabbed the honey and placed it in Tony’s hands while he was still bemoaning his fate. 

“Us giants are always happy to help the vertically challenged. Especially one who has been so very good to me tonight.” Loki cooed at him before picking up the plate and walking over to the dining room. Tony growled but followed him, honey in hand. He was still hungry after all. 

“So, what’s on the docket for this week?” Tony asked once he had a base layer of about four slices in his stomach. 

“Assuming there is no world ending calamity that requires Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?” Loki actually managed to say the words with only like 20% of his customary disdain. He wasn’t quite to joining the Avenger’s in a fight yet, but Tony was obviously wearing him down. 

“How about we always assume that, princess, and plan accordingly?” Tony said. 

Loki snorted. “No imagination, but if you insist. I have the usual classes, council meeting on Wednesday so I’ll be home late, but Friday is when Peter is coming to New Asgard.” 

“Finally getting to that battle training, huh? Count me in!” 

“You don’t have to. It will be their first time so it’s probably going to just be a lot of starting and stopping and nothing interesting. I’m sure Pepper has things she would much rather you accomplish...” Loki trailed on, not making eye contact. It was weird and suspicious and took Tony far too long to realize what was going on. 

“Awwww, you’re nervous. That’s just adorable.” Tony crowed. 

“Stark,” Loki warned. 

Tony laughed. “Who are you nervous for? Gunnar, Runa or Peter?” 

Peter was going to attend one of Loki’s advanced magic classes, they now had to designate the level since Loki’s magic and regular students had increased significantly. But the advanced class was still just Loki’s original two students. The two kids were adept enough after more than a year of study that Loki wanted to slowly start introducing using magic in battle, in very control circumstances of course. Peter was young enough that he wouldn’t be overly intimidating and he wasn’t very experienced in fighting magic users so it was a win-win scenario. A brilliant idea, if Tony did say so himself. Loki might say otherwise, but he’d be wrong. 

“None of them.” Loki countered. “All of them,” he then mumbled under his breath. 

“The kids will be fine. I’m actually fairly sure it will be hilarious, which is why I will be there. I’ll also be there for you and as extra help if things get out of hand.” 

“Yes, because you are so good at keeping things from getting out of hand. You are at least half of why I’m nervous.” 

“Half!?! Half! Mr. God of Chaos thinks I am half of the problem? When has anything ever gone according to your plans?” Tony wasn’t sure if he was amused or offended. Loki’s track record spoke for itself. 

Loki sniffed superiorly. “I always have everything well in hand. God of Chaos means I deal with uncertainty very well.” 

The god made eye contact with Tony, nose still up in the air, but was only able to maintain that expression briefly before he devolved into snorts of laughter. 

“Fine, you win. But I do have to be there, you don’t. I’m not sure everyone would survive our combined chaos though.” 

“No one cleans up better after me, than me. I’m going to be there and there’s nothing you can do about it. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.” Tony finished, digging into more food. 

“Yes, excellent plan, Tony. Let’s bring jinxing into this scenario.” Loki shook his head.


	2. The cat could very well be man’s best friend but would never stoop to admitting it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Quote by Doug Larson)
> 
> Yes, all of my chapter titles will be cat related quotes. Sensing a theme here?

The world makes it to Wednesday before the Avengers are required. It isn’t so much a world-ending calamity as a massive inconvenience. A puffed-up lunatic that called himself a scientist decided he was going to fix the world by turning all women into dogs. It seems that it wasn’t enough for the man to be an imbecile, he needed to be sexist as well. Loki was inches away from turning into a woman just to kick his ass, but then Tony would have been all happy and smug and Loki really couldn’t live with that for the next few thousand years. So, Loki let Romanov, Maximoff and Valkyrie do it for him. 

Loki did have the pleasure of watching the man cry like an infant as he was taken away, so there was that. And the council meeting was cancelled so Thor and Valkyrie could assist with the capture, so all in all it wasn’t a terrible Wednesday. Loki could have done without the Captain’s required de-briefing and honestly as a non-combatant he could have skipped it, but almost everyone he knew (and secretly liked) was there so such was his burden. 

Loki was talking quietly to Bucky, both of them pretending to ignore the despairing looks the Captain kept throwing them for ignoring his debriefing when Tony came up behind them and put a hand on each of their shoulders. 

“Bitches, am I right?” He just barely managed to get the words out before cracking up at his own joke. Loki smacked him over the back of the head. It wasn’t light either since he didn’t have to hold back anymore. Bucky snorted a laugh. Tony tried to pout at him, but the grin that kept creeping through showed that he wasn’t the least bit apologetic. 

There was an upside to this exchange, however. Loki held out his hand as Natasha walked by and put a nice, crisp $100 bill in it. 

“You bet that Tony was going to make a ‘bitch’ joke?” Bruce asked Loki. Loki smugly transported the money into his pocket dimension. 

“Why would you bet against him? That was practically a certainty!” Bucky asked Natasha. 

“The bet was actually about who would make the first bitch joke. I was certain it would be Clint.” Natasha scowled at Clint for letting her down. 

“Excuse me for maturing.” Clint grumbled. 

“You made a fart joke just last week.” Bucky pointed out. Clint laughed in remembrance. 

“It’s annoying. I feel like I’m not supposed to like dogs anymore. I love dogs.” Wanda put in. Loki and Tony shared a grin when Rogers threw his hands up in the air, giving up on any further attempts at getting the group on task. 

“You can still like dogs, just not asshole scientists.” Natasha assured her. 

“Hey!” Tony argued. “Not all asshole scientists are sexist.” 

Tony waggled his eyebrows at Loki, who rolled his eyes at the joke but kissed him anyways. At the other end of the table Thor grinned at them. Clint gagged. 

“I don’t see why there is such a fondness for dogs in this country. They are ridiculous, sappy creatures.” Loki said. 

“I’ve literally seen you turn into one.” Tony debated. 

“For emotional manipulation purposes only. I may not understand your people’s affection for them, but I can take advantage of it.” Loki said superiorly. Then added, “and I was drunk.” 

“Oh god, drunk Loki. I so want to see that.” Bucky laughed. 

“No, you don’t.” Thor and Tony said at almost exactly the same time. Loki’s smile was about as wide as it could get. 

“So, if you are so down on man’s best friend. What animal do you prefer?” Rogers asked resignedly, apparently going with the Midgardian mantra, if you can’t beat them join them. 

“To transform into or as a companion?” Loki asked. 

“Either.” Rogers responded. 

“Both,” Bucky prompted. 

Loki appeared to give it some thought, though had had been anticipating the question. “Snakes are the most fun to transform into. I would say that wolves make far superior companions to dogs. The same level of loyalty, but far greater intelligence.” 

“And, you know, greater propensity for killing, cause it’s you.” Clint put in. Rather than pretend offense, Loki gave him a proud look. He was fairly sure that would annoy Clint more. As usual, he was correct. 

Tony and Thor looked at him dubiously but said nothing. Both were well aware of what his actual preferred animal to transform into was, but Loki would not admit to favoring cats in this setting, especially considering they day they had just had. He suspected he would never hear the end of their mockery. He was still the God of Lies, even if he now kept himself mainly to small, unimportant ones. He was certain this particular lie would save much pain for all parties involved. 

Luckily for Loki, Pepper walked in before anything could make this awkward. 

“Pepper,” Tony whined. “You’re invading the super-secret clubhouse. Avengers only.” 

Loki raised an eyebrow at Tony. 

“Avengers and Loki only.” Tony corrected, going back to the whiney kid voice. 

“I’m sorry, Tony, but this acquisition paperwork couldn’t wait. We’re set to close at midnight tonight and I need your signature.” Pepper shot an apologetic look to the group at large. 

“It’s ok, Ms. Potts, it’s not like we were discussing anything important.” Rogers said with a hearty sigh. 

Tony just pouted more. It made Loki really want to bite that protruding upper lip, but he was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over very well. 

“You can bring Loki,” Pepper wheedled. 

“Ok!” Tony brightened, getting up to follow Pepper out of the room. 

Loki made eye contact with Pepper and they both rolled their eyes, but Loki dutifully got up from his chair and followed the two out of the room. 

“And Happy wonders why I don’t feel like I need any children,” Pepper muttered under her breath, still loudly enough that Loki and Tony could hear her. 

When they walked into the office Tony had set up on the bottom floor of the compound, Loki immediately made himself comfortable in one of the chairs facing the guest side of the desk, putting his feet on the surface but well away from where Tony and Pepper would need to use the space. Tony sat on the other side in the office chair while Pepper merely hovered behind him. 

“So, this is the acquisition for that little startup with the satellite prediction algorithm?” Tony confirmed as Pepper started indicating where to sign. Pepper nodded. 

“And they agreed to the two year earn-out?” Tony asked. Pepper nodded and started listing off some business babble that Loki barely understood as English. 

Loki wasn’t surprised, necessarily, that Tony understood it all enough to ask follow-up questions adding in more nonsensical terms like amortization and cost of capital, after all, all the man had run his own business for years. But it still didn’t feel very Tony. It was a far different side of the man from the science genius and superhero that Loki was used to. 

Apparently, Tony was done with his line of questioning because Pepper turned her attention to Loki. 

“So how are you doing? Any arguments lately?” Pepper asked with a smirk. She had been highly amused at Tony’s babbled proposal of her being a relationship intermediary to keep them from fighting unnecessarily. Still, Loki bristled a bit at the question. 

“Actually,” Pepper held a hand up before Loki could snap back at her, “you guys argue constantly. What I mean is, any conflicts that need resolving?” 

“We do not argue constantly,” Loki argued, and no, the irony was not lost on him. 

“We bicker.” Tony put in with a smile, looking up from his last signature. 

“What’s the difference?” Pepper asked, frowning. 

“It’s the difference between fighting and sparring.” Loki offered. Tony laughed and held up his fist for Loki to bump. Loki declined. Which of course just made Tony laugh harder. 

“You two really do deserve each other.” Pepper sighed, straightening the papers Tony had just shuffled through back into a straight pile. 

“You know, everyone says that like it’s a bad thing.” Tony said. 

“Yes, I am beginning to develop a bit of a complex about it myself.” Loki agreed, his lips twitching in amusement. 

Pepper scoffed and headed to the door. 

“Will that be all Mr. Stark?” She turned and asked, demonstrating that she wasn’t all that annoyed with their antics. 

“That will be all Ms. Potts.” Tony said, saluting her before she walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... I'm an accountant at a publicly traded company that does a ton of acquisitions, I couldn't resist throwing in some work jargon : )


	3. To Err is Human, to Purr is Feline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (quote by Robert Byrne)

Tony tried not to laugh; he really did. Not because he was nice or anything, that ship had sailed long ago. No, it was because he was pretty sure that he would always be just a little bit scared of Loki. And Loki’s face at Tony’s ill-hid laughter promised much suffering in the future. But really? How could Tony not? It was all so adorable! 

When Tony had arrived with Peter to Loki’s classroom, Loki had grabbed Peter and relegated Tony to a chair in the corner. 

“Stay,” Loki had commanded. 

“Sure! I’ll sit here and keep my mouth shut,” Tony promised amiably. Loki’s raised eyebrow indicated that he didn’t believe Tony for a second. Still, he left Tony and started Gunnar and Runa on their meditations. Peter sat down cross-legged behind Loki’s students and attempted to meditate with them. 

Peter could not meditate to save his life. Hence the trying not to laugh. 

Tony was failing at that as badly as Peter was failing at meditating, to the chagrin of the three other occupants of the room who were actually meditating. Peter was squirming. He could not stay still, could not keep his eyes closed, could not do anything even approaching concentration or centering or whatever the hell it was you did when meditating. It was so like Tony that he felt a strong burst of affection for the boy. Of course, that was a fairly regular occurrence anyways. 

Gunnar and Loki were dutifully ignoring the squirming teenager. Runa, however, kept peeking back at Peter through her lashes. Obviously, she wasn’t nearly as immune to distraction. She didn’t seem particularly annoyed though. If anything, she looked pleased. Interesting. 

Finally, with a huff, Loki got up and started directing the combatants. 

“Ok, Peter. We’re going to start with something easy. You’re going to launch some small webs at either Gunnar or Runa, don’t let them know which. They are going to try to determine your target and bring up their shields before the webs hit.” Loki turned to Gunnar and Runa. “Do not raise your sheilds until after he has shot. This is training your reflexes. The webs won't hurt you.” 

“Yeah, but they’re gross!” Runa whined. 

“Hey! My webs aren’t gross. They’re awesome!” Peter countered. Runa responded with a blush. 

A blush, huh? Tony had only met Runa a handful of times, but he felt like he knew the girl pretty well from all the stories Loki had told. It wasn’t like her to not argue. Tony concentrated on Runa as she and Gunnar countered Peter’s webs. The girl got visibly redder when Peter’s attention turned to her and she seemed to be missing her shield about half that time. Peter seemed to be noticing this and to spare her at least some pain, seemed to be firing at her about half as often as at Gunnar. 

Tony turned his attention to Loki who was frowning. He had obviously spotted the issue, but the wrinkle between his brows seemed to indicate that he wasn’t sure of the cause. If Tony was allowed to speak, he could have informed Loki about the building crush, but of course he was beholden to Loki’s orders. Then again, he probably wouldn’t have told him anyways. Confused Loki was just too much fun. 

Finally, Loki moved over to Runa to check on why she was having so many issues. She wasn’t vastly ahead of Gunnar, but she did tend to do better in lessons, especially at the physical spells. Loki directed Peter and Gunnar to spar for a bit as he spoke with his other student. Runa’s blush was radioactive by this point with the shame of Loki having to speak with her separately. Loki was very tactful, meaning Tony couldn’t eavesdrop, damn it. Whatever Loki was saying, Runa’s embarrassment merged into stubbornness and she squared her jaw. 

“Now, let’s turn it around. Peter, we’re going to have Gunnar and Runa send their attacks to you, try to evade. Gunnar, Runa, elemental attacks only. Concentrate on efficiency. The less energy dissipation you have, the less Peter will be able to anticipate your attacks.” 

“Uhhh... any tips for me, Mr. Loki?” Loki glared at the teenager. “I mean... Loki?” 

“Of course,” Loki responded with his shark’s smile. “Duck.” 

Fortunately, the boy did take direction well. It wasn’t even half a second and the kid was crouched, causing the wave of blue energy Runa had just launched to go well over his head. The energy hit the wall behind him in an array of sparks. 

“Oh cool!” Peter noted. “What would that have been if it had actually managed to hit me?” 

Tony laughed. Pete had this wonderful way of completely snarking someone and yet sounding entirely genuine at the same time. It was a talent Tony never obtained. Loki certainly had never sounded genuine in his life. It was a gift that was entirely unique to Peter and Tony enjoyed it every single time. Runa, however, did not enjoy the slight from her burgeoning crush. She literally stomped her foot before preparing her next spell. 

Runa didn’t do much better at attacking Peter than she did defending against him. Peter’s quips seemed to be causing any concentration she had to crack at the seams. Tony was this shy of getting out of his chair, encouraging the teen to lay off the wiseassery when Loki interceded first. 

“Runa!” Loki called. Just a quick word but heavy with judgement. 

“Hey, did you ever think that I am just that good at dodging?” Spiderman asked Loki. Yeah, that sort of sly defense of the poor girl was not going to discourage this crush. 

“Yes, you are very quick little spider. But Runa should be able to get you if she would focus.” Loki responded. 

“I am!” Runa shot back, turning her attention to her teacher. 

As she turned, her hand shot out in frustration and Loki was hit by a burst of blue magic. 

At first, Tony was mostly worried about Runa. She was already fragile, and this lack of control was not going to go over well. Plus, the magic the kids had been throwing around was mostly harmless stuff; it should cause no worse than a shock or a dampening of clothing. The girl grimaced in some mixture of frustration and embarrassment as all eyes turned to her. Then her attention turned to Loki and her jaw dropped. Tony’s heart dropped with it. Slowly, Tony turned his attention to Loki dreading what he was going to see. He looked to where Loki had been standing and saw... nothing. Tony sighed with relief. Obviously, Loki had teleported out of the way. No big. 

Tony quickly scanned the room and yet, Loki was nowhere. Then he noticed that Runa was looking down where Loki had disappeared from. Stomach clenching, Tony looked down as well. Sitting there, looking up at him with big, adorably confused yellow-green eyes was a small black cat. Tony breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea why Loki was a cat, but at least this was something familiar. Loki was a shapeshifter; this was no big deal. 

“Uhhh... Mr. Stark, Mr. Loki’s a cat.” Peter provided helpfully. 

The cat’s attention turned to the teenager and he looked annoyed. Or he possibly just looked. Cats always looked annoyed to Tony. But in this case, it was obvious that Loki did not like that he couldn’t correct Peter’s use of his name. 

“Yep, that’s Lokitty.” Tony confirmed. The gaze turned murderous as it slid over to him. Tony couldn’t help but grin. “It’s ok; he does this.” 

The yowl that issued forth from the creature on the ground seemed to insist that he was decidedly not ok. Tony frowned. 

“Runa, what kind of spell did you hit him with? Was this supposed to happen?” Tony asked the teary-eyed girl carefully. 

At his question, the tears spilled over and the girl ran out of the room sobbing. Tony was baffled. Sure, he wasn’t great with kids, but that seemed extreme even for him. 

“I would say that whatever was supposed to happen, it wasn’t that.” Gunnar posited, frowning and looking between where his teacher now stood, much closer to the ground and where his classmate had run off. 

“You saw the blue sparking, right?” Peter asked Gunnar. “Could you tell what the spell was?” 

“Magic doesn’t work like that,” Both Tony and Gunnar quoted Loki at the same time. 

Tony was about to ask Loki why he didn’t just turn back already when Thor strode into the room. Completely ignoring the tension, as only Thor could, the king instantly spotted the cat and hurried over to it. 

“Kitty!” Thor exclaimed. “What are you doing in my brother’s classroom?” 

The god bent down and scooped his brother into his arms and started petting. Loki seemed oddly okay with this arrangement. Was it a cat thing? 

“Thor, that’s Loki.” Tony said flatly. Sometimes, Tony just knew that Thor couldn’t be as dense as he came off. Other times? Well, he wasn’t quite sure. 

Thor looked at Tony like he was a complete idiot. It wasn’t a look he was used to from Thor. Loki? Certainly. Pepper? Often, But Thor? The god actually put a hand over the cat’s little ears before speaking in what he deemed to be a whisper, and yet most would consider to be normal volume. 

“Of course, it is, Stark. But he doesn’t like others to acknowledge that we know that.” Thor said. 

Loki wrenched his head out from under Thor’s massive hand, batting at it as if to punish the offending appendage. Thor just looked peaceably back at the glaring feline with a glint of mischief in his eye that made Tony wonder. How often was Thor’s denseness just an act to troll people? Tony shook the thought from his head. He had no time to go down that particular existential whirlpool. 

“Yeah, I think this is a little different from the norm,” Tony said instead before explaining the situation to Thor. 

“He can just turn back?” Thor said, a question on the end of his statement as he looked down at the cat in his arms. 

The cat shook its head. It was weird. Intellectually, Tony knew it was Loki, had seen him in various animal shapes, but rarely had he done anything so overtly sentient when he was in an animal form. 

“Well that’s not good. Can Runa turn you back?” Tony asked. 

Loki shrugged, then shook his head hesitantly. So, he wasn’t sure, but he thought not. 

“Shit. I’m taking you home. If we can’t solve this by magic, we’re scanning you and figuring it out with science.” 

Tony reached out to take Loki from Thor’s arms, but the cat shook his head violently, leaning into Thor’s chest to avoid Tony’s hands. Thor looked smug as all hell about it, which really wasn’t helping. 

“What? Why don’t you want to go home?” If it sounded like Tony emphasized the word ‘home’, like he still was slightly insecure about the whole living together thing, that wasn’t the case at all. 

The cat looked at where Peter and Gunnar still stood, mute and shocked by the proceedings. Then he looked over at the door and then rubbed up against Thor’s arm like he was comforting the man. 

“Loki, I suck at charades. Seriously, let me get you home and we can figure out a way where you can communicate. I can’t even begin to guess at what you are trying to say right now.” 

Loki huffed a breath and leaped out of Thor’s arms to land gracefully on the ground. He walked over to the still open classroom door and clawed a bit at the threshold. 

“I think he wants to talk to someone here before leaving.” Peter suggested. Loki nodded emphatically. 

“Eir?” Thor guessed. 

Loki shook his head. Then he looked again pointedly at Gunnar. 

“Oh, Runa.” Tony realized. “You want to comfort her.” 

Loki nodded and then walked over to Tony to bite his pant-leg and tug towards the door. The request here was clear, but Tony still didn’t understand it. 

“You want me to help?” Tony stammered. “You know that’s a terrible idea, right? I just asked her what happened, and she ran out the door crying.” 

Loki shot him an unimpressed look, his eyes just barely sliding to look over at Peter and then back to him. 

“Yeah, Peter’s different. He’s mostly a grown up.” Tony countered. 

“Hey! Thanks Mr. Stark!” Peter said, looking proud. 

“Don’t read too much into kid; that’s only by comparison.” Tony corrected. The last thing Tony needed was Peter thinking he was actually an adult and could get into adult-sized trouble. Tony turned back to Loki. “She may technically be older than me, but she’s still very much a kid. I don’t do kids.” 

If Loki had been human, he would have sighed and rolled his eyes at that statement. The cat seemed to convey similar exasperation. 

“I was raised by Howard Stark, what the hell do you expect me to contribute to a comforting, emotional conversation? I have zero experience to draw from.” 

Loki huffed. 

“Yeah, I know you had Odin, but you also had Frigga. She, at least, seemed to know how to parent.” Tony had loved his mom and she had been amazing, when she was actually around, which hadn’t been particularly often. 

“For all your words to the contrary, you seem to understand my brother’s meaning quite well.” Thor pointed out. 

“Yeah, as it turns out Lokitty’s expressions are pretty much the same as Loki’s.” Tony said and Loki swatted at him, claws barely pricking Tony’s skin through his pants. “Ow! But he’s far pointier.” 

“I’m not getting out of this am I?” Tony asked the cat and he shook his head. “Fine, let’s get this over with. Thor, could you let the Avengers know I’m not going to make tonight’s meeting? Apparently, I’m playing Dr. Phil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the climax of Ragnarok, Thor calls Hulk a moron. Then when he is with the Guardian's he completely pretends he does not know what that word means. While I do think Thor has his dense moments (which I think are more attributable to not being aware of Earth customs and just a general positive outlook) I just adored this bit of trolling. The guy grew up with Loki, there was no way he didn't learn to tease!


	4. Cats don't like change without their consent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Roger A. Caras) 
> 
> I'm posting this with the caveat that I am going on internet blackout until I see Endgame on Saturday. I'm not chancing any spoilers (I'm actually super picky I don't even like to see if people liked, hated, indifferent, nothing). So it may take me a little bit to get back to you in comments, but I just leave Lokitty any longer without an update!

Loki could practically hear the Norns laughing at him. In the scheme of things, involuntarily becoming a cat was merely a minor inconvenience. He willingly became a cat often enough that it was down-right comfortable. But being stuck in one form? That grated worse than the proverbial nails on a chalkboard and was just ironic enough to suit the Norn’s sense of humor. Loki hadn’t been stuck in a single form since Tony’s anti-magic snafu. The shapeshifter was hard-pressed to determine which situation was worse. He was intellectually more at ease in the cat’s body, but the lack of communication was going to get tedious. 

Then again, Loki thought as he wriggled in Tony’s arms to get into a slightly better position, being carried everywhere was quite nice. 

“Don’t get too comfortable, fuzzball.” Tony sniped. “This isn’t going to be a regular occurrence.” 

Loki snorted. Tony didn’t know how wrong he was about that. Then again, Loki would rather regain his normal form before Tony had long enough to figure it out. 

When they got to Runa’s parent’s place, Tony put Loki down again. He didn’t immediately knock; he just stared at the door ruefully. Loki sighed and scratched at the door pointedly. Tony looked down at him, silently begging not to do this. It wasn’t as if Loki enjoyed the prospect of trying to comfort a crying little girl, especially without his words, but what else could he do? This was mostly Loki’s fault. He shouldn’t have been so hard on Runa when there had obviously been something off. 

Loki hadn’t even thought about it. He had just immediately gone to accusations. He was no better than his father. He had tried so hard throughout these years to be patient and encouraging, but obviously he was just fighting a losing battle. It was inevitable that his history would get the better of him and his instincts would kick in. Hel, maybe it was better that he was a cat. At least he couldn’t yell at Runa like this. 

“Hey,” Tony said, getting Loki’s attention again from where he’d been staring into space. “Wherever you just went, I know it’s not good. We can’t both freak out here; I need your help.” 

Loki nodded and scratched at the door again. It was time to get this over with. Tony knocked and started as the door was almost immediately pulled open. 

“Mr. Stark!” Fell, Runa’s father exclaimed. Obviously, the man had been expecting a knock, but not Tony. 

“Hey there, buddy. Yeah, nice to see you again.” Tony said awkwardly. Obviously, Tony had forgotten the man’s name and here Loki had no way to help him. 

“We’re so very sorry, your majesty. I don’t know what could have happened.” Asta finished her statement right about when she finally got around Fell and saw just who it was at the door. She was even more surprised than her husband. 

“Sure, I’m pretty powerful and I have the whole love of gold thing going on, but you don’t have to call me ‘your majesty’.” Tony quipped. 

Loki sank his claws into Tony’s shin. This really wasn’t the time. 

“Ouch.” Tony shook Loki off his leg, giving him a grimace before turning back to the parents. “Yeah, I’m... I mean we’re just here to make sure Runa is ok.” 

“But what about Prince Loki? Is he with Eir? How hurt is he?” Asta asked hurriedly. 

Tony just stared at them in bafflement, so Fell clarified. “Runa didn’t tell us exactly what happened. She just said that she had hurt the prince and ruined everything and locked herself in her room.” 

“Loki’s fine... mostly. He’s, you know, here.” Tony gestured to Loki who waved a paw as the two parents turned in unison to look at him. It came out less as a greeting and more like he was begging, but he was severely limited by the animal's natural range of motion. 

“Well that’s a...relief?” Asta looked up at Tony in question. 

“Better than a lot of outcomes, I guess. Though, he doesn’t seem to be able to change back yet.” Tony responded. Loki urged him to get to the point. It came out as a yowl. This was definitely going to get tedious. “Yeah, anyways. We’re really just here to make sure Runa’s ok before we go back to our place and hopefully figure out a solution.” 

“You’re welcome to give it a try. We aren’t able to get into her room, but maybe you’ll be able to talk her out?” Fell offered, gesturing them inside. 

Loki knew the insides of the various Asgardian quarters intimately, having been the one primarily responsible for furnishing them. They were all somewhat different depending upon what personal effects the Asgardians had either brought with them or collected since, but they generally tended to be sparse. This was less so than most, one of Runa’s parents must have been either an amateur artist or they purchased a fair amount because most of the walls were covered in paintings of landscapes, Asgardian landscapes to be specific. Loki tried not to be distracted by the views of his erstwhile home and instead dashed to where he knew Runa’s room must be. 

Loki heard Tony’s heavy sigh as the man followed closely behind him but chose to ignore it. Another sigh as they stood staring at the closed door. Loki wasn’t entirely sure how improved Tony’s hearing was by this point, they hadn’t exactly done any formal testing. Which, now that he thought about it was a little odd, considering the source. Then again, Tony had been a bit distracted by all the sex. If there was only one thing on this planet that could distract Tony from science, it would be sex. So, Loki couldn’t be sure if Tony heard Runa’s hitching sobs. It hadn’t been overly long since the accident, but they sounded exhausted. 

The sound pulled Loki back into his well of guilt. It was easily his least favorite emotion. Anger and sorrow could be cleansing, could be focused into motivation and utilized. Guilt was just crippling. Fortunately, it was the emotion that Loki had experienced the least. Unfortunately, that meant that he had little idea how to manage it. They needed to get this over with. 

Loki coughed, or intended to at least. It came out as more like a growl. Tony was startled out of whatever thoughts he had lost himself to and looked at Loki with a tight smile. 

Tony knocked on the door. “Runa? Runa, honey, it’s Tony. Can you let me in?” Tony called in an appropriately cajoling voice. 

The sobs stopped, melding into sniffled. Loki could hear shuffling behind the door before it finally opened enough that they could see into the room a sliver. Red hair over a pair of red-rimmed, watery blue eyes looked out at them. 

“Mr. Stark?” Runa practically whimpered. Loki’s heart sunk further in his chest and he wanted nothing more than to cower, ears pressed back to his skull. He was able to fight the impulse for now. 

“Please, Mr. Stark was the bastard...” Loki hissed, stopping Tony’s usual yammering about his father being Mr. Stark. “I mean... call me Tony.” 

But the hiss had drawn Runa’s attention to Loki now and her eyes welled up in fresh tears. “I’m so sorry.” She stuttered through her tears. 

Loki shook his head, cursing his lack of words that he couldn’t dispute her. Couldn’t reassure her that she had nothing to feel bad about. That it was his fault, not hers. But Runa ran back into her room to throw herself on the bed in typical child fashion. Loki and Tony looked at one another briefly before following her in. 

Loki jumped up on the bed next to her, and Tony sat on the corner on the other side, looking extremely uncomfortable. 

“Runa, honey, please stop crying.” Tony begged. If anything, Runa cried harder. Tony winced. “I’m not... shit, Loki would be so much better at this.” 

Runa absolutely wailed at that, obviously taking it as chiding. Loki glared at Tony over the girl’s back. Tony looked back at him, looking lost and pained, which made Loki feel a little bad, but he had to focus on the task at hand. Words weren’t working, so Loki had to go with a tactic he almost never utilized, physical affection. He walked over Runa’s legs until he was next to where her head was buried in her arms. Fortunately, cats had an uncanny ability to wiggle into the smallest spaces. Loki used this skill to worm his way into her arms. 

The girl startled and her tears stopped as she felt Loki’s fur brush her skin. She sat up a bit to regard him warily. He took the movement as an opportunity to cuddle into her chest. He rubbed his head up under her chin and started purring. 

Purring was odd. It was hard to quantify as either voluntary or involuntary. The closest humanoid approximate Loki had found was trying to control your heartbeat. With concentration and training, you could do it to an extent, but generally changes in speed were involuntary. Purring was similar. Loki could never really stop it if it started on its own, but he had spent enough time in this form, had enough concentration that he could bring it on. At the comforting sound, Runa wrapped her arms around Loki and started stroking his fur. Loki continued to rub and purr and cuddle, his position against her chest allowing him to tell when she was calming down again. She sniffled and even smiled a bit. 

“Hey, would you look at that? Does that look like a kitty who is mad at you? Who blames you?” Tony chimed in suddenly. 

Runa shook her head. 

“As I said, Loki would be better at this whole talking to you thing, especially about magic, but I know the guy well enough to say that he knows that mistakes happen.” Tony said, then he brightened; Loki suddenly had a bad feeling. “Actually, I know a story.” 

Damn it. Loki knew where Tony was going with this. 

“A story?” Runa asked. She loved stories from Loki’s childhood. 

“Yeah, should sound pretty familiar. So, when Loki was all little, but not as little as you.” 

“I’m older than you.” Runa pouted. It warmed Loki a bit to see her getting a bit of her spirit back before she even heard the story. 

“Yeah, Loki tries to pull that one on me all the time. How old are you?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically at her. 

“Fifty-five,” She responded petulantly. 

“Ok, so obviously it’s not entirely proportional since that would make you like one here. But you’re still a little girl and I’m an adult. Deal with it.” Tony said. Loki snickered internally. 

Runa stuck her tongue out at that. 

“Do you want to hear the story or not?” 

“Yes,” Runa said meekly. 

“So, when Loki was older than you but younger than he is now, I have no idea how to quantify it in a way you’d understand, he was out at the training yards. Thor and his buddies were all training, doing their usual manly, sparring thing, whatever.” Runa giggled and Tony grinned. “Loki, though, was not taking part in the extra muscle-ly stuff. He was exercising his most important muscle, his mind.” 

Runa giggled again; if Loki could roll his eyes, he definitely would. 

“Anyways, Loki was practicing his magic, actively casting some spell or other, I don’t know what you magic=y people do. Well, Thor’s buddy Fandral decides to waltz on over and put his smug, ugly mug in Loki’s face. Loki, who had not been casting any sort of animal related spells, was startled and all of a sudden instead of Thor’s blonde idiot of a friend, he was looking at a very large wolf. Of course, Fandral wasn’t very happy about this and Loki had to skedaddle, but he came out of it in the end. Frigga fixed Fandral and they all learned a valuable lesson.” 

Loki was deeply deprecating of Tony’s storytelling ability, but it was all, mostly, true. He was pretty amused by the various insults to Fandral’s person, less amused by the fact that if he applied this story to Runa’s situation, he was Fandral. Though he couldn’t argue that it wasn’t fair. 

“So, obviously, you did much better getting yourself a fluffy Lokitty instead of a vicious wolf.” Tony added. 

“I’m still really, really sorry. I don’t know how it happened. It just did. It was supposed to be an ice spell.” Runa insisted. Loki just rubbed against her again. 

“Hey, no sweat. He just has to be cute for a while. Unless, you think you can fix it?” Tony directed that more to Loki than Runa. Loki shrugged. 

“Was that a shrug?” Tony asked. Loki just cocked his head. “I guess that’s a ‘we probably shouldn’t risk it’, huh?” 

Which is exactly what Loki intended. Tony was surprisingly deft at reading him. 

Runa’s eyes welled up again at that. “He’ll never trust me again. He thinks I’m a failure.” She wailed. 

Loki turned wide eyes to Tony who matched him in startlement. That was not what he had meant at all. 

“Hey, no. That’s not what Loki meant at all. He’s all old and brilliant and he still doesn’t have any idea what to do. He just doesn’t want to risk you.” 

“No, he just thinks that I’ll screw it up again.” 

“Honey, no. Loki would never think like that. He loves you.” 

Runa looked up at that, eyes wide in shock. Tony, too, looked surprised at the words that had just exited his mouth. Loki stilled, wondering how Tony was going to recover this. 

“He... he does?” Runa asked, sounding so very young and vulnerable. Oh, so much guilt. Because Loki really did love her, her and Gunnar both. He couldn’t imagine that he could possibly care for them any more even if they were his own. Of course, Runa had absolutely no way to know that. It’s not like he’d ever been good at showing it. 

“Of course, he does.” Tony said earnestly. “He brags about you and Gunnar all the time. The only reason he is even teaching other students is because of how much you two made him enjoy teaching. You’ll always be dear to him.” 

Loki, deeply uncomfortable with this conversation, curled himself into the smallest possible ball, ears back, just waiting for the conversation to end. 

“He’s never said anything. My parents tell me they love me every day.” Runa insisted. 

More cringing. Tony was never going to dig them out of this. 

“Good. They definitely should.” Tony cleared his throat and looked around the room as if searching it for inspiration. “See, some people, like Loki, hell like me, ah, we aren’t very good at that.” 

“Why not? It’s easy. You just say it.” Runa insisted stubbornly. 

“Yeah, definitely seems like it, huh?” Tony laughed weakly. “But see, some people didn’t have awesome parents like yours who told them every day. Or maybe somewhere down the line, they got hurt. It makes it harder to... to admit that stuff.” 

If the topic hadn’t been so deadly serious, Loki would have laughed at how uneasy Tony was. He was looking everywhere but at Runa; his hair was a complete mess from how often he had put his hand through it. 

“Someone hurt Loki?” Runa asked, shocked. Which made sense. Loki wasn’t entirely sure how much Gunnar or Runa knew about his past, specifically the past few years and the many very public embarrassments. But she had to know some of it, and none of it would be good. No one in Asgard but Thor, Eir and likely Heimdall knew all the extenuating circumstances. So, the idea that Loki could have been hurt, rather than been the one doing the hurting was likely odd for her. 

“Well, it’s really not my story to tell. I’ve kind of put too many words in his mouth as it is. Suffice to say, I do know that he loves you. He’s just... he’s probably not going to say it a lot... or maybe ever. He’s just...not. You have to look at what he does instead. I mean... he’s nice to you, right?” 

Wrong tack, Stark; Loki thought bitterly. Loki had never been nice in his life. Well, maybe he was mostly sweet to Tony, but the man was his exception. He certainly had never been nice that the Asgardians knew about. His teaching style, too, was far from pleasant, even if it got results. 

“Of course! He’s the best, nicest teacher I’ve ever had.” Runa insisted 

To say Loki was startled was an understatement. He was also very suspicious of Runa’s other teachers. But, he had suspected that Gunnar and Runa knew that he was all bark and no bite, given that they so frequently mouthed off to him, which he thoroughly enjoyed of course. But having the proof of that, having Runa even say that was him being nice. It was odd, if gratifying. 

“And is Loki nice to everyone?” Tony prompted. 

Runa snorted at that. Which was entirely fair. 

“Oh god, you already sound like Loki. Asgard is doomed.” Tony moaned, hand over his face. 

Runa giggled and Loki found himself purring again at the sound. The little girl pulled Tony into a hug that he returned, if a bit uncomfortably. After an appropriate period of time, Tony deftly extricated himself from the girls grasp. She gave Loki a tight hug and then the two of them were able to leave a much more content little girl in her parent’s hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had all the feels for this chapter and it ended up far longer than most of mine tend to be!


	5. If cats could talk, they wouldn’t

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Quote by Nan Porter)
> 
> For all my Son of Chaos readers.... I'm sorry, here's some funny fluff?

If Loki could have, he would be hauling his lover out of Runa’s place as quickly as possible in order to find a suitably private corner for Loki to thank him properly, preferably with a comfortable horizontal surface, but a wall would do in a pinch. Tony had handled the situation beyond Loki’s wildest dreams; handled it better than Loki himself would have, certainly. But, of course, he was feline so celebrating in that particular manner would not be happening any time soon. Still, if the stubborn man would just pick him up so they could walk faster, he could at least get in a bit of a cuddle. It was truly annoying how much he wanted to do that in this form. 

“I’m sorry,” Tony finally said as they were about halfway back to his classroom. Loki brightened and stopped, thinking he was going to be picked up. Tony stopped as well, but just looked down at him solemnly.  “I know that was worse than even you expected, but I swear I tried.”

Guilt and frustration warred within Loki. Frustration at all the people that had made such a brilliant man think he couldn’t do anything right, and guilt that he had set himself up as someone that Tony thought agreed with them. The frustration built because Loki couldn’t say anything to deny it; couldn’t pull his not-so-mortal in for a hug and kiss his insecurities away. He was conscious not to show any of this, however, as he knew Tony would take it precisely the wrong way. 

So, Loki shook his head and tugged at Tony’s pants until the man knelt down. Then Tony got the same treatment as Runa. Loki hopped up onto the man’s bent knees, rubbing up against his chest, his head practically exfoliating Tony’s chin he was rubbing so hard. The bonus of this maneuver was that he hadn’t appropriately scent marked Tony yet and the feline instincts were very pleased to assert that this person was very much his. He purred as loudly as possible until Tony finally laughed and started petting his back. 

“I’m guessing this means that you’re actually pretty happy with me right now?” Tony asked cautiously. Loki purred even louder. Tony chuckled again and ran his hand down Loki’s spine, scratching at the base of his tail causing the most delicious feeling. Seriously, it was just shy of sex. 

Tony stopped after a moment before scooping Loki up into his arms and continuing their journey. He still stroked Loki’s back as he walked, idly humming AC/DC. 

“Hey,” Tony said after a moment. “You tricked me.”

Loki looked up at Tony, making sure his eyes were wide and innocent. 

“Uh huh. Not buying that for a second. You’re lucky I really believe you meant the comforting, but you were totally also conniving to get me to carry you most of the way.”

Loki purred. Tony really was very brilliant. But Loki was still the master trickster. 

Since Tony couldn’t have anticipated this turn of events, he had sent back his jet, which had brought him and Peter to New Asgard. So now that Loki couldn’t teleport them, they were forced to ask Thor to bring them via the Bifrost. 

“Do we perhaps want to check with Eir first before we take you home?” Thor asked. 

“We’ve been through this before and I don’t need Eir giving me another one of her McCoy impressions.” Tony responded. Peter and Thor just looked at him blankly. He looked down at Loki who just gave him an enigmatic look. Loki didn’t know what he was referencing either. There was only so much Midgardian pop culture he could stomach at once. 

“You know, the doctor on Star Trek? She’d go ‘Damn it, Mr. Stark I’m a healer, not a sorceress.’?” Tony prodded. 

“Oh, Karl Urban’s character!” Peter commented.

“Ye... no, ugh, fine. The new movies are pretty good. Anyways, anytime we come to her with this stuff she always just tells us it’s not her area. The first step we need to accomplish is getting Loki home so I can figure out a way for him to communicate. We can take it from there.”

Loki nuzzled into Tony’s chest. Good boyfriend.

“Yeah, and don’t think I’m going to be carrying you this whole time.” Tony said down to him wryly.

Bad boyfriend! 

Loki leaped down and walked over to Peter tail held high. When he got to Peter’s feet, he scratched at the boy’s leg and mewled up at him pathetically. Peter dutifully leaned down to pick him up and start scratching him behind the ears. Perfect, Loki thought and immediately started purring. 

“You got played, kid.” Tony said. Thor just snorted in amusement. Loki was far too comfortable to care. 

“I don’t mind. It’s not like he’d let me hug him normally. He’s even purring.” Peter smiled down at Loki, who felt another stab of guilt. He truly was a jerk. 

“Ok, beam me up Scotty!” Tony said to Thor. Thor gave him another blank look. Tony sighed. “Just... call the bifrost. Let’s go home.”

‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘

When they landed in the tower, they weren’t quite as alone as Tony had anticipated. They certainly hadn’t expected the entire team of Avengers to be standing in the living room waiting for them. Shit, Loki was definitely not going to like this. Tony looked over at Loki in Peter’s arms and sure enough, the lazy purring and tail flicking stopped, and Loki jumped quickly out of the boy’s arms and walked over to stand by Tony.

“Uhhh, I thought Thor cancelled the meeting. And even if he didn’t shouldn’t you guys all be at the compound?” Tony asked.

“We wanted to check in and make sure Loki was alright.” Steve responded with a small smile. 

That little comment did something warm to Tony’s insides. He knew Steve wasn’t lying. 

“Nah, we just wanted to see the furball.” Clint put in. Which was probably more likely for most of the team. 

“He’s so tiny!” Wanda practically squee’d which made both Tony and Loki flinch. 

“He looks more like a kitten than a full-grown cat.” Sam acknowledged. And yeah, they were so not diving into that one.

“You guys do know that he’s right here. He can understand everything you are saying about him.” Tony warned. 

“We’re not saying anything bad.” Clint said. Which was not the point Tony was trying to make. “We’re just talking about what an adorable little fluffy kitty he is.”

Clint was bending down and crouching right in front of Loki as he said those last words in an annoying baby-ing voice. As soon as he was within reach Loki struck, hitting Clint in the nose with his paw a dizzying number of times before the archer could react and jump back. 

“Hey!” Clint said, grabbing his nose. When he pulled away, Tony noticed that there weren’t  any scratches , so Loki obviously hadn’t wanted to do any real damage. 

“You’re lucky he didn’t have his claws out. Kittens can be pointy too.” Tony said.

“I would consider that a warning.” Thor confirmed. 

“So, is this Loki from now on? Because I have to say, I’m not complaining.” Romanov put in.

“Yeah, now we only have one smart ass that can’t shut up.” Sam added.

Loki shot them all a particularly disdainful look. Tony smirked, anticipating what was coming.

“Personally, I don’t see much of a difference.” Bucky piped in.

“Yep, that’s Loki’s ‘I hate all you foolish mortals’ look. Exactly the same.” Clint agreed. 

Tony snorted because it was pretty much exactly what he had said earlier.

Loki yowled his displeasure. 

“What!?! It's funny ‘cause it’s true.” Tony protested. 

“Though I do prefer Loki’s regular voice.” Natasha added. 

Apparently, that was the last straw. Loki gave a huff of displeasure and left the room haughtily. Meaning he left the room like any other cat. 

“Do you think he’s mad?” Peter asked earnestly.

Tony snorted. “Oh definitely. Don’t worry though, he’ll just take it out on me by shredding my curtains.”

“Or vomiting on your pillow.” Sam suggested.

“Or leaving a dead bird at your feet.” Clint suggested. 

“That’s if they like you, dumbass.” Romanov nudged him. 

“Oooh, Bucky, maybe you’ll get the dead bird since Loki’s pissed at Tony.” Clint said. 

Bucky rolled his eyes. Tony noticed that Thor looked a bit offended that Clint went straight to Bucky as the one that Loki liked after Tony. 

“How is this our lives?” Bruce observed, his first comment of their little impromptu meeting. 

“We got together to stop an alien invasion.” Steve started.

“Led by the asshole who just left.” Sam said.

“Who was stopped by his brother with a magic hammer.” Romanov said.

“Don’t forget the cube that transports people through space and the staff that controls minds.” Clint put in.

“And, you know, you turned into a big green rage monster long before any of that ever happened.” Tony finished.

“Ok, fine. You win. We were never going to have normal lives.” Bruce held his hands up in surrender. 

“What do we do about Loki? I can’t imagine he wants to stay quadrupedal forever.” Vision asked finally.

Tony sighed. “The first step is figuring out a way of communication. I figure I can get FRIDAY to project a keyboard sized for his little kitty paws. It will be slow, but maybe we can figure something out. I have absolutely no idea what happened, so any steps after that will be up to him and his information.”

“Do you need anything from us?” Steve asked. 

“No, hence my canceling the meeting.” Tony glared at everyone assembled. Not a single person looked guilty, nosy fuckers. “If anything, we may need Strange’s help but I’ll keep you posted.”

Much muttering and backslaps of solidarity ensued as the Avengers exited. Once everyone had finally left, Tony took the time to collapse on the couch for a moment. It had been a long few hours. He enjoyed the plush cushions and the ability to lay his head back for a while. Right up until the niggling question of just what Loki was up to became too much for him and he had to get up and find the cat. If he had really vomited on Tony’s pillow there was going to be hell to pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, I am having so much fun with this! Feel free to shout out anything you are interested in seeing, any trouble or kitty tropes for Loki to get into. I still have to flesh out between some plot points!


	6. I’ve met many thinkers and many cats, but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Hippolyte Taine) 
> 
> Thank you so much for the kitty ideas! I'm looking forward to incorporating them!

Tony found Loki not too long later in their bedroom. He wasn’t vomiting on his pillow, fortunately, but sleeping on it instead. He was all curled up into a tight, black fluffy ball. Tony had to admit, he may not have been a cat person, but this was one of the cutest things he’d ever seen. He still checked the room thoroughly for any unpleasant surprises though. It was still Loki. 

Once Tony had established that Loki hadn’t done anything horrifying, he walked over to the bed to nudge Loki awake. Cats just napped all the time, right? It wasn’t like babies where you didn’t want to wake them? Tony had absolutely no experience with pets to draw from. He considered asking FRIDAY but he was sure that would have woken up Loki anyways. Besides, he was pretty damn tired himself. So, Tony took the path of least resistance, for once, and decided to join the cat in sleep. After he was all changed, he tried to get into bed as lightly as possible. Since Loki had stolen his pillow, he buried his face in Loki’s. Tony inhaled, taking in the scent of the product Loki put in his hair. It was something the god made himself, it smelled minty and herbal with a hint of citrus. It was delicious and it was Loki. Soothed, Tony drifted off to sleep. 

‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘ 

Tony woke up to a pair of green eyes staring him in the face. He shouted out of instinct and Loki jumped, back arched. 

“Sorry, but really, dude? Right in the face? You asked for that.” 

Loki looked unimpressed by Tony’s lack of cool, but his back straightened out and he walked back over to Tony’s face to rub along his cheekbone. 

“You’re forgiven.” Tony sighed. He sat up and ran a hand over his face. “So, you ready to get into the workshop and figure out your little problem?” 

Loki let out a little yip, that Tony was going to take as a yes. Tony went into the bathroom to relieve himself when a thought occurred to him. 

“Uhhh.... Loki? We don’t need to get you a litter box, do we?” Tony called into the bedroom from the bathroom, concerned. As far as Tony knew, Loki had never stayed a cat long enough that it was really an issue for them. 

A decidedly pissed off yowl sounded from the other room. Tony stifled a laugh. Yeah, that was going to be a ‘no’. It did figure, actually. Tony had heard about regular cats being trained to use the toilet instead of a litter box. As long as Loki was physically capable, that was certainly a far better solution. Tony wasn’t sure if either of them would ever recover from Tony having to clean out a litter box. 

Soon enough Tony had thrown on a faded band shirt and tattered jeans, his usual working wear and walked down to the shop, an anxious Loki tagging at his heels. They let themselves in and were quickly greeted by DUM-E and U. 

The two bots excitedly rolled over to Loki. Tony tensed. Loki had been in the workshop in animal form before, a few times even. The bots technically knew how to carefully pet him, not putting too much pressure, not grabbing any limbs. But... it had been quite a long time since Tony had cleaned up their code. Not since he rebuilt them after having his place bombed actually. It was easy for them to forget little things like that and Tony really didn’t want Loki to get hurt. But no, DUM-E, with far more care than he’d ever shown for Tony’s equipment, ran a claw down Loki’s back. Loki arched into the movement and purred in satisfaction. He rubbed his face on DUM-E's claw and waited for U to present his as well for the rubbing. Then Loki hopped up onto the counter and took a seat, staring at Tony. 

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to figure out everything for you, huh?” Tony asked grinning. 

Loki’s meow definitely sounded like a yes to Tony’s ears. 

“Well to start with, while you are surprisingly easy to read, I think we need to come up with a slightly more concrete form of communication. Friday? Can you pull up a QWERTY keyboard large enough that Loki’s paw will fit over a letter?” 

“Sure thing, boss.” Friday did as asked, creating a see-through blue holographic keyboard just in front of Loki. 

Loki regarded the hologram suspiciously for a moment before moving his paw across it. 

“Hello,” The word came out in a slightly robotic sounding version of Loki’s own voice. 

“Ok... that’s a little creepy.” Tony responded. Loki nodded. 

“Sorry, boss. I thought it might sound better than either my voice or a generic default.” 

“No, no, good thinking Friday. Could you just pull up the settings for me?” Tony asked. Friday did and Tony messed with the reverb and twigged the algorithm that was pulling Loki’s voice from the history that had been captured from all Loki’s time in the tower. “Ok, Lokes. Try again.” 

“I feel ridiculous.” Loki typed a bit faster this time and the voice actually sounded remarkably close. Loki’s eyes widened and his ears went back momentarily. 

“Does it bother you? I can tweak it more or go with an entirely different voice.” 

“No, this is adequate.” Loki typed out. “This is also tediously slow.” 

“Well, if you wouldn’t use all those big, fancy words it would be quicker.” 

Loki glared. “Friday, could you please reduce the keyboard size by 15% and increase the sensitivity by 30%?” 

“Yeah, I don’t think that is going to work like you...” Tony trailed off as Friday did what Loki asked, and he saw Loki’s paw whir across the floating letters. 

“You were saying, Stark?” Loki asked, shooting Tony a smug look as he finished. 

“Ugh, cats are smug enough as it is. Lokitty is like twice the smug.” 

“Charming.” 

“So, you wanna tell me what happened and how we fix it?” 

“Honestly, I have no idea. By all accounts, Runa shouldn’t have been able to accomplish this. When I accidently changed Fandral, that had not been the spell I had been working on, but it was a spell I knew. I was just startled and too busy running away from the pissed off wolf to change him back, which was why Frigga was necessary. But there was nothing holding him in that form. I’m a shapeshifter, there is no reason that I shouldn’t be able to just change back.” Loki got through that speech impressively fast. Loki may consider it tedious, but with how swiftly his paws could move across the smaller, more sensitive keyboard, it wasn’t all that much slower than speaking. 

“I’m guessing you’ve probably tried again recently?” 

“As soon as I woke up.” 

Tony sighed. “Ok, my first thought is using the Muggle-inator.” 

“No,” Loki responded immediately. 

“Yeah, I somehow figured you’d say that. Hear me out. You don’t have any stores of magic as a cat, right?” 

“That’s a very complicated question. Yes and no.” 

“Ugh, I hate magic. Explain.” 

“An animal does not have stores of magic, no. However, I don’t lose mine just because I’ve shapeshifted. Otherwise, how would I be able to shapeshift back? If I could change back, but didn’t have my stores, I would always look Jotun and would have found that little secret out far sooner.” One of the weirdest parts about the artificial voice was the lack of emotion. The algorithm was good enough that it could predict pauses and emphasis, but it had no way to know the bitterness that would normally be rife in Loki’s tone at that sentiment. 

“Ok, so where does your magic go? Where is it now?” 

Loki appeared to think about it for a moment. “Consider it like my pocket dimension, it’s displaced, not gone and usually when I shapeshift, the only magic I have access to is the ability to pull my magical core back from where it’s being stored, which restores me to my usual form.” 

“That seems... unnecessarily complicated. But I’m with you so far. If it’s not within you, then hitting you with the Muggle-inator shouldn’t do anything but halt the magic currently around you, right?” 

“I said to think of it like the pocket dimension, it isn’t actually displaced. My magic is still there, it’s just been shifted.” 

“So, you’re worried that somehow my machine will still be able to effect it.” 

“And very possibly destroy the connection between it and myself entirely. I’m not saying it’s a certainty by any stretch, but I still don’t really know how your anti-magic device works. It may work differently now that I am in this form than it did before. I’m not taking that chance.” 

Tony couldn’t help being a tiny bit smug at the fact that for all Loki’s intellect and experience, he still couldn’t match Tony when it came to pure science. 

“So, you’re that afraid? You’ll just stay a cat forever?” 

Loki rolled his eyes. “Not forever. Let’s just consider the anti-magic device a last resort.” 

“Muggle-inator. Show it some respect and call it by its actual name.” 

“I refuse to encourage your ridiculous naming scheme.” 

Tony laughed and shook his head. “Ok, there’s my idea. If that’s a last resort, what’s the first plan?” 

“I hate to say it, but I believe I could use Strange’s input.” Loki definitely looked like he hated to say it. His ears were completely back. 

“He is going to give you so much crap, you know that right?” 

“I’m aware, yes. But his dimensional magic is different and far more structured than mine. He also has learned a fair bit about my own style of magic by now. I believe there may be solutions that he has access to, that I do not.” 

“You’re seriously willing to put up with a smug Dr. Strange over testing out my Muggle-inator?” Tony asked again. He just needed to be sure. 

“Yes?” 

“Ok, the question mark doesn’t help. Also, it just sounds super weird in your not-quite-voice.” 

“Yes.” Loki said more firmly. Well, typed. The spoken voice was pretty firm though. 

“Damn, you really are afraid of my Muggle-inator.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki HATES the Muggle-inator, right down to the name. So, of course, Tony is going to say that name as often as humanly possible.


	7. My cat does not talk to me as respectfully as I do to him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (paraphrased from Colette)

Loki was very impatiently waiting for Strange to stop laughing. His tail was thrashing wildly, completely outside of his conscious control. Worse, Tony’s face was twitching like he wanted to laugh along with the foul sorcerer. Loki growled; he was surrounded by asses; why had he allowed this to happen? 

“Are you quite done?” Loki typed out when Strange’s laughter started to slow. Unfortunately, the mechanical version of his voice seemed to set Strange off to laughing again. Loki hissed his displeasure. The ridiculous cloak the sorcerer wore wiped tears out of the man’s eyes. This was humiliating. Loki was starting to reconsider whether picking the anti-magic device would have been the better choice. 

“Sorry,” Strange said finally. He didn’t look like it. Loki just glared. “No really, I’m here to help. But I can’t say that I’m not surprised you actually came to me so soon. I figured I would be the last resort.” 

“Actually, it turns out that the Muggle-inator is Loki’s last resort.” Tony said. 

“Ah, yes. I can't really blame him on that. Who knows what the shifting of energies could do for his powers in the future?” Strange nodded. 

“Oh Tesla,” Tony bemoaned. Referencing some scientist instead of a deity like he sometimes did just to mess with people. “Is this what Bruce and I sound like to other people? It’s infuriating and exhausting.” 

“Yes,” Strange and Loki said together. Well, Loki typed, and FRIDAY projected the words in a voice that sounded eerily like his own, but not quite right. Loki still wasn’t sure if he was ok with it or if he wanted to change if for a completely unknown voice; he hadn’t decided yet. 

“Fine, fine. You and Loki do your inexplicable magic talk thing. I’ll sit around and look pretty.” 

Loki’s eyes didn’t want to roll quite right in this form, but he made an attempt. Still, Tony had sat on the couch in the lab that had basically become Loki’s by this point, and his lap looked very cozy. Without even thinking about it, Loki found himself kneading into Tony’s thighs to find the ideal sitting position. They were still in the lab, though they were almost sure it would be unnecessary for Strange’s visit, because that was where Tony’s projection technology was the most sensitive and up to date. Loki could use the keyboard in any room in the tower, though. It was basically a requirement of Tony’s when he built the place since he got ideas everywhere. You could even pull up holographic displays in the shower. 

Loki did his best to explain the situation to Strange. Despite his earlier amusement, the man listened very seriously. 

“It’s difficult to really determine if I have a solution, since anything I would be able to access would be a transformation based on dimensional energy. And I’m not sure we have any records of shapeshifters; I don’t even know if that’s possible with my form of magic.” Strange mused. “I could go back and do some research, or we could try a few spells I know meant to counter or stop ongoing spells.” 

“Those shouldn’t hurt anything,” Loki confirmed. “Let’s give them a try.” 

Strange nodded and sat down next to Tony on the couch so he could place a hand on Loki’s head. Oddly, the sentient cloak decided to start petting down Loki’s spine. Even more oddly, Loki was mostly ok with it. Stupid feline body that enjoyed physical attention. Tony absentmindedly started scratching at the base of Loki’s tail and that was all that was needed for the purring to start again. 

Strange snorted; Loki shot him an offended look and Strange put a still slightly shaking hand over his mouth. When the man had calmed himself, he closed his eyes and Loki could feel the man’s magic around him, appearing in Strange’s usual orange light. 

“So, according to my little investigator spell, you’re a cat.” Strange said finally. Loki’s stomach dipped. 

“Really? Go figure!” Tony scoffed. “This is the guy you thought could help?” 

“No, you don’t understand.” Strange explained. “Generally, when Loki is shapeshifted, my magic can tell that he isn’t a normal cat. There is an energy below the surface, not necessarily within him...” 

“I’ve mostly explained how my magic works while I’m shapeshifted.” Loki interrupted. There was really no point in getting into that again. Tony didn’t even really understand it the first time. 

“Ok, so the crux of it is, that connection to his magic that allows Loki to change his shape, even while he is in one that does not naturally have magic, that’s gone.” The sorcerer summarized. 

“That’s....bad.” Tony guessed. 

“Very,” Strange said. 

“Extremely,” Loki added. 

“So, this isn’t about changing Loki back necessarily. It’s about finding Loki’s magic so he can change back himself.” 

“Possibly.” Strange allowed. “Loki’s magic may not be gone per say. It may just be that the connection has been broken between him and it.” 

“Which was what you guys were afraid the Muggle-inator would do. So, we can try that?” 

“From what Strange is saying, there would be no point. There is nothing magic about me for it to halt. For all intents and purposes, I am merely a very intelligent feline.” Loki said, grateful for the lack of emotion in the projected voice for the first time. He was sure his own voice would have cracked at that statement. This was bad. This was very very bad. 

“Ok, so what do we do?” Tony asked, tackling the problem head on as usual. 

“One moment,” Strange said, holding up a scarred finger. 

The sorcerer created a portal and stuck a large chunk of his upper body through it, speaking quietly to the person on the other side. Since the person was likely Wong, Tony couldn’t resist calling a greeting. 

When Strange came back out of the portal, he had a book in hand. 

“This is a divining spell. Since I’m familiar with Loki’s magical energy, if it still retrievable on any plane, I should be able to find it with this.” Strange started reading through the spell and casting the digits. “Oh, and Wong says hi.” 

Loki and Tony just nodded and waited for the magic to happen. Loki tried to follow the orange sigils of Strange’s magic, but while he had learned quite a bit, it was all still unknown to him, especially something like this new spell. After a moment, Strange sighed and the magic faded. Loki’s stomach dropped. 

“The good news is that I was able to find your magical energy. The bad news is that I have no idea where it is.” Strange said, frowning. 

“Uh, buddy. I think you are a little confused about the definition of ‘find’.” Tony replied, looking concerned. 

“What he means is, that the energy is not gone, he can detect it, but he cannot pinpoint where it is on this plane.” Loki clarified, and Strange nodded his agreement. 

“Ok, well I have no idea whether to be relieved or concerned. What does that mean?” 

“You are really terrible when you don’t know what’s going on.” Strange sighed. 

“Tell me about it.” Loki agreed. 

“Oh, like either of you are so much better.” Tony snorted. There was a moment where all three were in begrudging agreement. 

“It’s mostly good news. There’s something there, we just need the right spells to find it.” Loki said finally. 

“I do have an entanglement spell that I think I could tweak to work.” Strange looked to Loki who nodded for him to go on. “It’s meant to entwine energies. It’s often used in binding rituals, but I’ve heard of it being used to restore magic that was laid into an object.” 

Once again Strange created another portal, but instead of speaking to Wong or anything else, he just reached a hand in and rummaged around for a moment. He smiled as he pulled out a book and started flipping pages. Loki sighed and decided to lay down in Tony’s lap, curling his tail around himself. His eyes were starting to droop, an annoying reminder of just how much time cats generally spent sleeping. Tony’s hand, which he had removed while Loki was changing position, immediately returned, this time scratching right behind his ears. Loki enjoyed it immensely, but that along with the humming that Tony started only further lulled him into sleep. 

Loki was startled awake an unknown amount of time later by the firm closing of a large book. 

“I just went through the spell again. I have the familiarity with the energy, there is nothing location-specific about the working. I think I have it all figured out. You willing to test?” 

Loki nodded firmly; Tony’s hand, still entwined around his head, stiffened into a grab suddenly. Loki yelped as his delicate ears were bent back. Tony immediately removed his hand and started apologizing profusely. Loki hopped out of his lap and shot him a displeased look. 

“And what is your objection?” Loki typed. 

“Uh... testing an unknown spell, that has been altered in an unknown way for a situation that this guy barely has a grasp on. How are you ok with this?” 

“I know how Strange’s magic works. The theory is sound, and I trust Strange not to do anything that he isn’t reasonably sure won't hurt me.” Loki was quite amused by the look on the sorcerer’s face on that statement. A mixture of surprise and pleasure. 

“And that’s enough for you?” Tony’s eyes were big and worried. It was rather adorable, and Loki found himself hopping back onto the man’s lap. 

“At what probability would you be willing to risk your life in one of your experiments?” Loki asked him them. 

“0%. I’m always right.” Tony said automatically. But of course, Loki could tell that the man himself didn’t believe his statement; and knew he wouldn’t get away with it either. 

“Friday?” Loki merely asked. 

“Mr. Stark has never taken a risk on something with more than a 12% chance of failure.” Friday responded dutifully. 

“That’s actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be.” Tony murmured. 

“Well, Friday wasn’t around for your younger years.” Strange pointed out. 

“Neither were you!” Tony protested. 

“Oh, but I’ve heard stories.” Strange countered. 

Probably should nip this little argument in the bud. 

“So, Strange, if you had to place a probability on this spell, not failing, but injuring me, what would you think?” 

“That’s fairly hard to do in a magic scenario compared to something like physics or chemistry, but if I had to, conservatively I would say that it has about 5% chance of hurting you in some way.” Strange said after pondering it for some reasons. 

“No more arguments, Stark. We’re trying it.” Loki said. 

“Yes, sir.” Tony replied resignedly. 

This time, Strange didn’t place his hands on Loki, he waved them around the small cat’s body. After the energy had fully encircled him, the band of magic started shrinking, which, even knowing what was supposed to happen, started Loki’s heart racing. When the bands were finally up against his fur, Loki felt a bit of a jolt that made him dizzy. He stumbled a bit off of his feet at the sudden disorientation. He could feel Tony’s hands pull up as if to grab him before the man stopped himself. 

Finally, the magic faded, and it didn’t take but a moment to determine that Loki was still very much without his magic. Strange looked at him questioningly and Loki shook his head. That was a terrible plan as it set the world spinning a bit again, but it did give him an idea. Loki made as if he fell to the ground. Tony shot off of the couch and started cursing Strange out who merely bent over, looking at Loki with concern. Loki stumbled over until he was just over Strange’s shoes. A bit of hacking, from the nausea of course, and he deposited a small hairball right onto the leather. 

Loki immediately stopped playing sick and walked back over until he was leaning against Tony’s legs. He decided to groom his paw for maximum smugness. The disgust on Strange’s face was just perfect. The sorcerer was so horrified, he couldn’t quite react initially. He stood up, shook the little black lump off of his shoe and winced. 

“It’s in my sock.” Strange moaned and Tony snickered. 

“Cats, they get hairballs; what can you do?” Tony asked sighing regretfully. 

“This is because of the laughing earlier, right? Not because the spell failed?” Strange asked Loki. It certainly was, but Loki was going to take full advantage of a cat’s mysteriousness. So, he just sauntered out of the lab, leaving Tony and Strange to deal with the mess.


	8. Cats are connoisseurs of comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (James Herriot) 
> 
> Ok, so there was some heavy stuff in the past chapter, even if we ended on the fun. But this, this is just all fun!

Loki had been a cat for three days with no end in sight. Strange had tried a few more spells after the first failed one, with no more luck. Loki mostly seemed to be taking it well. Not that Tony could really get a clear read on him. His facial expressions may have been eerily similar as a cat, but Loki could still do a blank face really well. Tony suspected that the whole thing did make Loki anxious, but even if he didn’t have to type to communicate, Tony never would have been able to get Loki to talk about it. 

There was something else, though, something that wasn’t just the lack of options. This look that Loki got in his eyes that he wasn’t quite in the moment. That was what truly concerned Tony. He was steeling himself for one of those talks when Pepper had called him in a tizzy. There was a snag with the team that was working with the new acquisition they had done. Some personality conflict issues and Pepper had scheduled Tony’s jet to fly him to London that night. It was only then that Tony realized that he hadn’t informed Pepper of the whole ‘Loki’s a cat’ issue. 

Pepper made the appropriate concerned noises and offered her help and support and blah blah blah, but she had stood firm on needing Tony to go to London. Like he was the right person to deal with personality conflicts anyways. But no, he wasn’t there for that but to smooth things over and show how seriously they were taking things, despite the apparently demeaning comments their (former) employee had made. When Tony still balked, she begged. Tony could never resist Pepper begging. 

So that was how Tony found himself staring at the motley group of people who had shown up at his tower when he requested help from the team to look after Loki. 

“You guys all volunteered to babysit Loki?” Tony asked in shock. 

Bucky he’d anticipated. But Clint and Natasha? He knew they’d all gotten to a good place. Really, it was kind of amazing how well they’d all been doing as a team. Sure, it was easy to come together when you have to save the world, but the amount of baggage they all had could fill a 747. There was so much history, with each other, with Loki, but they were managing it beautifully. It helped that there were enough of them now with Spiderman, Dr. Strange and the various Asgardians helping that it wasn’t the same team going out for everything. They had time to relax; they could do their own thing secure in the knowledge that anything short of the end of the world could be handled by their teammate’s. It was definitely a relief. For all that, it was still a testament to how far they’d come that Clint especially was here, voluntarily. 

“President of the Formerly Brainwashed Society reporting, sir. We’re ready to take charge of our fellow member.” Bucky stepped up with a serious face, that he pretty much immediately dropped and started chuckling. 

Tony squinted at him. “Loki still insists he wasn’t really brainwashed.” 

“And yet he didn’t debate the name of our little club.” Clint snickered. 

“And he let you be President?” Tony asked Bucky. 

Bucky grinned and nodded. 

“I’m Vice President,” Clint chimed in. 

“Then what’s Loki?” Tony asked. 

“Secretary,” Bucky and Clint said together. 

Tony looked down at the cat in question who merely stared back in his enigmatic cat way. 

“In a weird way, that totally fits.” Tony laughed. Then, he realized the third volunteer also fit the parameters of this little club and made eye contact with Natasha. 

“Treasurer,” She sighed, sounding completely done. Which, of course, just made Tony laugh harder. She was still here. 

It was totally cheesy, but it warmed Tony’s heart. He knew Loki would never admit it, but after centuries of nothing but tagging along with Thor’s friends, he had his own. True, to an outside observer this would appear to be the same, after all the Avengers had been Thor’s team long before Loki had come around, but that wasn’t the case for Bucky, at least, nor Strange or Peter. And these interactions, the silly club, the science talk with Banner, magic lessons with Strange, training with Peter, it was all independent of Thor, even if the people involved were also friends with him. All told, it definitely made Tony feel at least a bit more comfortable leaving Loki go to on this stupid emergency business trip. A bit. 

“Are you sure you don’t need me to stay?” Tony asked Loki for probably the fifth time. “Because I can totally find some way to put off Pepper. I’m sure there is something I haven’t tried yet that might work. I am a genius, she can’t possibly be that tricky.” 

“She is.” Loki said through Friday as she calculated the quick movements of his paw as they traversed the invisible keyboard. He’d gotten even quicker, and so good that he didn’t even need to see the keys to know where to gesture. “Does this vast group of responsible individuals not provide you with some comfort? Beyond the fact that I am perfectly capable of seeing to myself as I am not an actual feline. A fact that you seem to keep forgetting.” 

Tony looked over at Bucky, Clint and Natasha who were smiling as if butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. “Responsible?” 

“Hey!” Clint said. 

Natasha swatted him. “Stark knows you. I believe that is my indignant ‘hey’” 

“Nah, I’m good.” Bucky shrugged cheerfully. 

Yeah, Tony wasn’t concerned at all. 

“Are you sure Steve was busy?” Tony asked Bucky suspiciously. 

“Yep,” Bucky said, that mild smile didn’t even twitch. 

While Tony had no doubt that Bucky could, and would, lie to his face, and Tony wouldn’t suspect it for a minute, he pretty much had to take the guy at face value until proven otherwise. 

“Please don’t get them into too much trouble.” Tony begged Loki. Not for the first time, he debated causing a ‘glitch’ in Loki’s communication system. He felt like there would be far less chance for chaos that way. 

Loki didn’t respond. He just looked up at Tony with those big green eyes, looking innocent and adorable. He may as well have been saying ‘no promises’. But he did temper that with a quick rub around Tony’s legs and some purring. Tony shook his head and started for the door. If he didn’t leave now, he would truly talk himself out of this trip. It would be fine. Whatever trouble they got into, the super-spy assassins and actual God could get themselves out just fine. 

‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘ 

When Tony left, Loki turned towards his “babysitters”; it was an insulting concept, but he supposed he could do worse for minders. Bucky and Clint were tractable and up for some fun. Natasha could be convinced to fun, but not manipulated. She also tended not to care what he did as long as he didn’t touch her hair; which he didn’t do any more since she had stuck with the red. Not that he didn’t rub it in that she had completely bowed to his preferences. So, what were they going to do? 

As if on cue, Bucky reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small, white cloth bag. Loki cocked his head, trying to get the measure of the thing. It didn’t have any writing on it. All he had to go on was the delicious scent; it was sort of minty, but far stronger. The air felt almost thick with it until just drawing in breath gave him a heady feeling. 

“I’ve always wondered how catnip actually affects cats. Now we have a cat that can actually talk to us and tell us about the experience. I’m going with it’s basically weed.” Clint said. 

“That is, if it works for him at all.” Natasha mused. “He isn’t actually a cat, you know.” 

“Biologically, I am exactly a cat.” Loki corrected her. “Now, what is that amazing smelling thing you have in your hand, Bucky?” 

Bucky and Clint grinned at each other, and Bucky threw the bag onto the ground right in front of Loki. Loki walked over slowly; each step brought him closer to the herb and more and more enthralled with its scent. At this point he just wanted to stick his nose in it, rub around in the stuff until that was all he could smell. It was far more intoxicating than any drug or alcohol he had ever consumed, at least by initial sense. 

“It’s catnip; cat’s go crazy for the stuff. We thought it would be fun.” Bucky said with a grin. 

Loki looked up at the three. They all looked a little too pleased and anticipatory. It made Loki very suspicious. Yet, he really, really wanted to get in closer to the herb. So, he took a few more tentative steps towards the white bag, his eyes on the three mortals the entire time. Their expressions didn’t change, but that wasn’t exactly re-assuring. 

Finally, Loki couldn’t wait any longer. He actually pounced right onto the bag. The top opened up in a spray of little leafy bits, looking a bit like tea actually. Smelling quite a bit like his mint tea, but oh, the effect it had. It was relaxing, like tea, but at the same time stimulating. Not like caffeine though, this was more like the concentration drug he had tried once on Alfheim. He hadn’t liked the days' worth of sleep taking that drug had required, so he had only done it the once. Loki wondered what the side effects of this potent blend would be. But then Bucky sat down in front of him, setting the herb aloft and right into his nose and suddenly he really didn’t care. 

Loki needed more of this in his nose right this very instant. He dropped to the ground and started rolling in the herb, scratching at the bag to try to get every solitary bit out of it so it could be in him, on him, just whatever he could get. His mind was floating in a sea of delight. The purrs started up not long after; his body needing to radiate the perfect contentment he was feeling. 

“So, how does it feel, Loki? Tell us everything.” 

Loki waved a paw in the air, trying to convey the clouds of calm that were adrift in the sky of his mind. 

“kjdfoidfoighdn,” All four beings startled at the random string of noises that were piped through the tower’s speakers, still somehow sounding like Loki’s voice. 

“Ugh, I would say we can add a certain lessening of mental faculties to the list of side effects.” Bucky said grinning. 

Loki wasn’t sure what that meant, but hopefully it involved more of this herb. Yes, he was the one providing it, so he was the one Loki needed to please. Loki walked, a little unsteadily, over to Bucky and collapsed in his lap. There wasn’t any herb here, but there was enough in his fur that once he rolled around a little in the mortal’s lap, there was enough around for him to stick his nose in. So, he did that, and rubbed and purred until the good man would provide more of this not-mint. 

“Oh yeah, he’s totally high.” Clint crowed. “This is fantastic! Think we can keep him like this the whole time Tony’s gone?” 

“I do think it would help to minimize the trouble he can get into.” Natasha considered. 

“Not that it isn’t a good reason in itself, but are we sure that wouldn’t be bad for him? I mean, I don’t know much about catnip, but there has to be a reason that owners don’t give their cats this all of the time.” Bucky questioned. 

They said that magical word ‘catnip’ again. They must be discussing giving Loki more. Loki decided to encourage this by standing up and rubbing his herb covered face all over Bucky’s hands. 

These needed to get him more catnip! All of the catnip! Bucky! 

If Loki could have whined his friend’s name, he would have. But he was pretty sure that typing probably wouldn’t work very well. His paws didn’t seem to want to cooperate with him. He watched as it waved unsteadily in the air, feeling almost like he was moving through a thick fluid. 

“Youdlkjgnl” Friday dutifully reported in his voice. Well the start had been almost right. Oh well, Bucky was smart, he’d get the point. Loki rubbed more on his hand. 

“Look at him, the guy obviously wants more. He’s smart; he would know if it’s going to hurt him.” 

Loki meowed at Clint’s statement in agreement. Yes, Clint was smart as well, and nice and... Loki’s attention is diverted from the catnip to a bird that had just landed on the patio. It fluffed its feathers, getting comfortable, not at all realizing the predator that was just inside. Yes, that’s what Loki would do. He would catch the bird to help work off some of this amazing energy he suddenly had; he would present the bird to Clint as a thank you present and then he would get more catnip. Genius!


	9. The Trouble With Cats Is They've Got No Tact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how light and fun the last chapter was?
> 
> Yeah, I don't know why I brought that up...

Tony got home from the trip a day early. And no, it wasn’t because he was nervous about Loki. It wasn’t that at all. It was just that the head of the new acquisition took to Tony’s shmoozing like a duck to wet things and he hadn’t needed that extra day to smooth things over. So, of course he came home to the boyfriend that he loved, that happened to be going through some issues because he was involuntarily a cat. Tony definitely wasn’t worried about any trouble said boyfriend got into while being a cat because he had responsible adults looking after him. Bucky, Clint and Natasha together equaled at least one responsible adult, right? 

But as Tony entered the living area, he was forced to conclude that no, there was not a single responsible adult on the premises. The living room was in shambles. The chair was knocked over, most of the kitchen cabinets were just laying open and ... shit, was that a dead bird? Nope, Tony didn’t want to know. Tony stepped over what was definitely a cat toy and not a previously live animal to stand in front of the claw torn couch. Three of the deadliest humans on the planet were sleeping on the furniture in question. Bucky was practically bent over the arm of the couch, his hair just barely brushing the floor. Natasha had her head in Bucky’s lap and was spread over the rest of the seats. Clint was sprawled out on his stomach over the entire top of the couch, not unlike a cat himself. 

“Friday, be a lamb and set off the Avengers alarm,” Tony requested. 

“Captain Rogers did request that we not use the alarm for anything other than Avengers business.” Friday responded. 

“He was just miffed that he came running into movie night with the full cowl and shield.” Tony waved away his AI’s concern. “Trust me, he’ll approve this one.” 

A rolling siren started through the room and suddenly he had three very alert assassins. 

“Hi guys! Miss me?” Tony said cheerily and Friday cut off the alarm. 

“What’s wrong, Stark? Why are you back early? What’s happening?” Clint asked at shotgun speed. 

“What’s wrong is my living room. I’m back early because I, correctly, didn’t trust you assholes. What’s happening is that you are explaining how you managed this much chaos in two days. Oh, and if you would be so kind as to let me know where the hell my boyfriend is? That would be just swell.” Tony said through clenched teeth. 

To give the three a little bit of credit, they knew when they had fucked up. They looked guilty as hell and began searching the living room. After Loki did not make his appearance immediately, they all started to get nervous. 

“He was just here, I swear.” Bucky said frantically from underneath the couch. 

“And how long ago was it that you all fell asleep?” Tony asked, fists clenching against the desire to strangle the man. But Steve AND Loki would kill him for that, so he refrained ... barely. 

“No more than an hour,” Clint assured Tony. 

Natasha looked at her watch and winced. “Or two.” 

“Ok, cats sleep like 15 hours a day or something ridiculous. You couldn’t like take turns sleeping when he was? Really, I know you guys have done this sort of thing before. Prisoner watch? Stakeouts? Come on guys!” 

“You don’t understand; he hasn’t slept.” Natasha said. 

A sudden sense of foreboding took Tony. “What?” 

“Uhhhh....” Bucky started looking over at Clint. 

“I’m sure he’s fine...” Clint hedged. 

“Yeah, you really aren’t helping your case.” Tony practically growled. 

“Catnip is made for cats, right? He’s fine.” Natasha assured him. 

“Yeah, sure, but why do I sense that there is more to the story than just a little catnip?” 

“Well... not a little catnip.” Bucky started. 

“Kind of, more approaching a fuck-ton.” Clint said. 

“You gave my tiny, practically kitten of a boyfriend, a fuck-ton of catnip? Are you guys high?” Tony shouted. 

More wincing. He didn’t feel the slightest bit bad for them. 

“No, but Loki definitely was.” Clint said. 

“Out!” Tony shouted. 

“Hey, Stark. We gotta help you find Loki.” Bucky argued. 

“Nope, you gotta get out before I do something, we’re all going to regret. Friday and I can find Loki just fine. Get out.” 

Natasha practically wrestled her cohorts to the elevator while Tony seethed. Honestly, he was sure that Loki was fine, but not seeing him right away was making him anxious, especially when he knew there was something else going on. He had no doubt that Loki had been a willing participant in the shenanigans, but Loki had a bit of a habit of using substances to hide from his problems. Hypocrite thy name is Stark, but it didn’t make it any less true. 

“Friday, where’s Loki?” Tony asked finally. 

“He’s in the lab, boss. Sleeping.” Friday responded promptly. Tony was pretty sure that the three stooges had been too tired to remember that Friday would be able to immediately locate Loki. Tony had conveniently forgotten to remind them. It was the least of the punishments he would inflict. 

“Friday, please call the cleaning crew.” Tony’s eyes were drawn once again to the bird, yep, that was definitely blood. “The industrial one.” 

“Already scheduled boss.” 

“You’re a treasure, baby girl.” Tony sighed and walked down to the lab. 

Once down there, Loki was easy to spot, curled into a tight little ball on the couch. Dum-E and U were hovering around the kitten like two doting little mama-bots. It was seriously adorable, at least, until he spotted his workbench. 

“Friday, how about another alarm, please?” Tony requested. 

Friday responded as promptly as usual. The cat awoke with a screech and an arched back as he pronked almost a foot off the couch. He landed hissing in all directions until he spotted Tony. 

“Sorry about that, Friday was just testing the alarm. You weren’t sleeping, were you?” Tony asked with a pleasant smile. 

Loki glared at him and started grooming himself. 

“What? No hello? No, I missed you dear? Nothing for your favorite Avenger?” 

“Right now, you are not my favorite Avenger. That title belongs to Banner.” Loki typed a little bit slower than usual. 

“Oooh, Bucky and Natasha got heavily downgraded, huh?” 

“My head is absolutely splitting from that devil herb of theirs. I feel like I am moving through gelatin and I am not entirely sure I am capable of seeing straight.” Loki provided, a look of intense concentration on his face as he typed out the words. He then collapsed back on the couch exhausted. 

“Ouch, I’m feeling so bad for you. I’m sure that the three amigos forced the catnip on you and gave you no opportunities to stop the entire time I was gone.” Tony said. It was both an accusation and a question. He didn’t think that people who had their free wills messed with would do such a thing, even if they didn’t realize the effects or Loki asked while ‘under the influence’, but... it was Loki. He was allowed to be a little protective. 

Loki let out a big cat sigh. “No, after the first time they wouldn’t give me anymore until I could successfully type out to them what it was like. None of us knew that it would hit me like this. It’s quite possibly the worst hangover ever.” 

Tony sighed and resolved to do something nice for the three. They had likely been punished enough by this point. “So... are we going to talk about what made you want to escape to catnipland? Or do you want to dive right into the chaos that is our living room? Or hey, we can start right here with my prototype glasses you successfully crushed into oblivion?” 

Tony held up the offending spectacles and Loki cringed. “I’m sorry.” 

“I know; you know I don’t really care. I’m just worried.” 

“Can I get some food and water before the interrogation?” 

Tony nodded. He was even really nice and picked Loki up to take him to the other floor. Loki rubbed up on his arm in the way that Tony now knew was both showing affection and making him smell like Loki’s. Weird cat instinct stuff was apparently par for the course even with normal shapeshifting. 

Tony set Loki down on the kitchen counter and rummaged through the fridge to get him some water. Apparently, Loki was more hungry than thirsty because he meowed plaintively and scratched at the cupboards, not able to reach the upper one where they kept the tuna. 

“Oh... I’m sorry little kitty. Are you reaching for this tuna, up here? Why can’t you just get it yourself? You know I don’t eat tuna.” Tony cooed in that same patronizing voice that Loki had done to him just a few weeks earlier. 

Loki just snorted, obviously realizing that he deserved it. Still, Tony grabbed some food for Loki and got some coffee to drink while the cat was eating. He was exhausted, but he was far too keyed up by the evening’s events to even think about falling asleep. Loki was hiding something from him, and he wasn’t going to be able to relax until he knew what it was. 

After Loki had finished eating, he spent an inordinate amount of time grooming. Tony just eyed him until he finally stopped. Tony cleared his throat waiting for the explanation. Loki just looked at him enigmatically. 

“Come on, Loki. What’s the deal? Is this because you haven’t figured out the solution yet? Because we can still try my anti-muggle device. Or just wait for you and Strange to figure it out. I know it sucks being a cat all the time, but it’s not like I’m going anywhere, ever. You know, that right? Not that this is even a possibility, but even if you were a cat forever, I’m not abandoning you.” Tony really hoped Loki knew that. He was almost positive he did; Tony definitely was not doing the whole immortal thing only for his own sake. 

The cat nodded and rubbed his head against Tony’s hand. Well, that was something at least. 

“And, it’s not like there’s some time limit, you guys will try everything until you stumble on the solution.” Tony ran a soothing hand down Loki’s back. While the cat responded to the motion, he very distinctively did not meet Tony’s eyes. 

“Fuck, there’s a time limit, isn’t there? What’s going on?” Tony asked. 

“There’s a reason I don’t stay in a particular form for too long, other than my own, of course.” Loki started. 

Well that didn’t necessarily help Tony’s sense of foreboding. So, this was a shapeshifter general time limit, rather than one for this particular occasion. 

“Ok, what happens if you stay in that form too long?” 

“The animal’s... let’s call it... instincts start to take over. I’ll lose more and more of myself.” 

There were no words for the panic that that blazed through Tony’s brain at that. “Like permanently? Like everything?” 

“Eventually, if I stayed in this form long enough, I would be no more than a regular house cat. I would live and die in the normal timeframe for that animal remembering nothing of Loki.” 

Tony wanted to yell at Friday to quit it with the Loki voice. Having those words said so dispassionately grated at him on a fundamental level. He started to feel like he couldn’t breathe, so he sat down heavily. No way. There was no possible way he could let this happen. He was not living for thousands of years only to see a cat that had once been Loki die in less than a decade. Life couldn’t possibly be that cruel. 

Loki jumped in his lap, rubbing and purring, obviously trying to comfort Tony, but it wasn’t exactly helping to be reminded just what the love of his life currently was at this moment. Possibly forever. Tony fought to regain his breath, not to let this devolve into a full-blown panic attack. He hadn’t had one in years; he was not giving in now. 

“Ok, you and I are going downstairs right now and trying the muggle-inator.” Tony said. Loki yowled his displeasure. 

“Nuh-uh. We are not waiting until you start to lose yourself to try. I don’t care if you lose all your magic forever as long as I have you. You get that, right?” 

Loki sighed. “Based on everything I’ve talked through with Strange, I don’t think the device will take my magic, but I don’t think it will work.” 

“Then you don’t mind me trying it, right?” Tony said. Loki looked like he was going to argue again. “You have to let me do this. I have to rule this out or I won't be able to stop thinking about it. Please, Loki.” 

The cat nodded and Tony scooped him up in his arms again. He tried desperately not to squeeze him too tightly, but he suspected that his hold was probably uncomfortable for Loki anyways. Loki didn’t fight it though. He seemed to know that this was probably something Tony needed. When they were back in the lab, Tony swept all the loose bits of what once had been his new glasses off the table negligently and placed Loki down. He grabbed the muggle-inator and pointed it at Loki. 

“Hopefully it doesn’t hurt this time. You ready?” 

Loki nodded hesitantly. 

Tony closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. He opened them hesitantly to look over at the table. Hoping beyond hope to see his long-legged god smirking back at him, blue or pale, didn’t matter. Instead he just looked back at a very morose looking kitten. He turned around so Loki wouldn’t have to see him blinking the tears out of his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a few of you already saw this coming, I did allude to it all the way back in In Time, but it had to be done...


	10. As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the humankind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Quote by Cleveland Amory)
> 
> Sorry for the delay! Finally worked out the kinks with this chapter!

Loki was really glad Tony hadn’t thought to ask how long it would take for him to lose himself. It would come up, eventually, he knew. But Loki was always on the side of putting painful things off as long as possible. Just one of the many ways he had made his life harder than it needed to be. But it was a millennia long habit and there was no teaching an old dog new tricks; so to speak. 

Loki really didn’t want to lie to Tony. The truth was, he had absolutely no idea. It could be tomorrow for all he knew; it could also be a year from now. All he knew was his mother’s warnings and the frustratingly vague references in books. He hadn’t met a single other shapeshifter in all his travels. 

Loki had thought about going to Jotunheim, quite a few times actually, in the last year or so; now that he could take that shape without wanting to claw his own skin off. Explore, meet some people that he wasn’t actively trying to kill or trick. Maybe even find some people like him. Loki internally kicked himself for not having the courage to do so sooner. Now it might actually be too late. 

One thing Loki was thankful for was that if he had to be stuck as an animal, that at least it was a cat. The Avengers could tease all they wanted, but yes, cats were his favorite animal. They were clever and quick and not the least bit afraid to do whatever the hell they wanted. You always knew exactly where you stood with a cat, they hated you, ignored you, tolerated you as they desired. If you won the love of a cat, it was an accomplishment; you knew you had earned something precious. It wasn’t like a dog that loved anyone who even looked at them. 

So, there may be a few similarities. There was a reason it was his chosen shape when he needed an escape. It wasn’t him, but still familiar, comfortable. Though, he wasn’t so comfortable at the moment, knowing what his very presence in this shape was doing to Tony. Loki had left after the anti-magic device hadn’t worked. He knew Tony well enough to know that he needed time. 

However, Loki also knew Tony well enough to know that alone was not what he needed. Tony being alone with his own brain was a dangerous situation. So, he immediately called Bruce, as Rhodey was indisposed with some mission or another; Loki hadn’t really been paying attention at the time it was explained. Loki was pleased that Bruce showed up within the hour; he was less pleased to see that the scientist was not alone. 

“Brother!” Thor called before scooping Loki up in his arms. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a witness, Loki would have sworn on pain of death that he hadn’t curled up in Thor’s arms and immediately began purring, radiating contentment at receiving a comfort he so desperately needed. But he suspected Bruce wouldn’t rat him out. 

“How are you doing, Loki?” Bruce asked, lips crooking in a small smile. 

“Well enough, Bruce. And you?” Loki asked after shifting in Thor’s arms so he could wave his paw in the air. 

“Oh, you know. Well enough, can’t complain.” Bruce waved the question away negligently. “What does Tony need?” 

“A friend,” Loki responded immediately, looking up at Thor. This would need to be approached delicately. He had hoped that he could put off telling his brother about the current predicament, but it seemed that Bruce had suspected something was up and had headed him off at the pass. It was vastly irritating how intelligent and perceptive the man could be. 

Said scientist didn’t press further. “He’s in his lab?” 

Loki nodded and Bruce started down there with a wave. 

“Why did Bruce think that I should be here for you as well, Loki?” Thor asked. 

“What happened to pretending I’m not Loki while in this form?” He teased, not quite ready to get into it. 

“I do believe that ship has sailed.” Thor said with a wry smile. 

“Oooh, Thor! An idiom. I’m impressed.” 

Thor booped him on the nose in retaliation. Loki wrinkled the offending part and backed his head away. 

“This is why you don’t get a dead bird like Clint did.” Loki responded petulantly. “He gave me catnip.” 

Thor looked legitimately jealous at that and Loki chuckled. It came out as sort of a chittering mew and it was deeply embarrassing. But it got Thor laughing so it wasn’t the worst thing. No, the worst thing was what was coming. 

Thor noticed the change in mood and walked over to the couch to sit down and let Loki out of his arms. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked bluntly. 

Loki told him. He didn’t have the same qualms about lying to Thor that he did to Tony, but he still didn’t lie. What was the point when one conversation with Tony would unravel a falsehood like so much yarn? 

Thor’s face went stony. “How long?” 

“Yes, that is the question, isn’t it?” Loki mused. 

“How. Long?” Thor asked again more tersely. 

“I don’t know!” Loki snarled, but of course it didn’t come out that way through the infernal speakers. He settled for a hiss. It got his point across just the same. 

“How do you not know? Don’t you know everything?” Thor shot at him. 

“Well it’s a little hard when I didn’t even know what I was for the majority of my life!” Loki shot back. 

They glared at one another for a moment before deflating. 

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t helpful; or fair.” Thor said first. The still very much immature portion of Loki preened that Thor apologized first. 

“Yes, well... if I had been slightly less stubborn, I may have had an answer before all this happened. But, no crying over spilled milk and all that...” 

Thor looked at him sideways. “Who would cry over spilled milk?” 

“I don’t know... a cat maybe?” 

They both chuckled; it was easier than crying. 

‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘ 

“Hey Tony,” Bruce’s familiar voice rang out behind him. 

Tony tried to sniffle discretely, clearing his nose. When he turned around, he was rubbing his eyes like he was tired, not like he was clearing some tears. Not that he would be able to fool Bruce for long. 

“Hey Jolly Green! What brings you to my humble abode?” Tony asked brightly. He grabbed two random items from his worktop to try to look reasonably busy. They ended up being two pieces of his prototype glasses that were broken beyond repair. 

“Loki asked me to come by. Said you needed a friend.” Bruce responded. 

Tony threw down the pieces. Not that there was anything he could do with them anyways. “Oh, yeah? Did he say why?” 

“Nope, probably because I knew something was up, so I brought Thor.” 

“Clever.” Tony acknowledged. Was he really ready to do this yet? 

“You want to talk about it?” Bruce asked. 

“I don’t know... have you had your caffeine? Not going to fall asleep on me?” 

“Seriously, Tony, that was one time! We had been up in the lab for like 14 hours; I’m only human...ish.” Bruce argued exasperatedly. 

Tony cracked a grin. “I just did 36 hours a bit ago no problem.” 

“Yes, but you aren’t even human-ish anymore.” Bruce pointed out. 

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how he was going to get this out. “Yeah, that’s part of the problem.” 

This was the first time Tony really missed being a regular joe, specifically, alcohol. It wasn’t that he couldn’t get drunk, Loki had proven that. But it certainly took a lot more work. He also didn’t crave alcohol like he used to. But at this point he almost craved craving alcohol; the memory of how even that first sip would sooth him was a complicated one. He knew it wouldn’t do the same now, so what was the point? Then that lead, of course, into feeling guilty for missing it. He knew he had gotten off so much easier than he deserved. So many people worked and struggled to get over alcohol dependency; he just ate an apple that his boyfriend gave him and poof, no more need for alcohol. 

“How is that the problem?” Bruce’s question fortunately interrupted Tony’s shame spiral. Just in time for him to get back to worrying about the real problem at hand. Excellent. 

“Well... I came home to the Powerpuff Girls having given Lokitty massive amounts of catnip...” 

Bruce gave him the usual longsuffering, I have no idea what you are referring to, look. 

“Bucky, Clint and Natasha.” Tony clarified. 

“But where did you get Powerpuff...? You know what... I don’t want to know.” Bruce threw up his hands. “Go on.” 

Tony snorted. Come on, that was an easy one! They were a blonde, brunette and a red-head with Natasha obviously being the brains, Bucky being the scary one and Clint being the cute one. It was so obvious even Bruce should have gotten it. Tony made a mental note to repeat that one to Loki; he’d get a kick out of it. Shit... yeah, Loki. 

“Anyways, it reminded me of his little drinking binge and made me suspicious. Turns out if he can’t figure out this whole cat thing soon, he’s going to literally become a cat. Cat instincts, cat memories, cat IQ ... cat lifespan.” 

Bruce looked floored as his brain went through the scenario. “Fuck.” 

“Why Mr. Banner! What language!” Tony admonished. But really, Tony had never heard him curse like that before. He joked, because that’s what he did, but it didn’t make him feel any better. 

“I don’t like to curse a lot; gives it more weight when I do. This... this qualifies.” Bruce said. 

“Hell yeah it does.” Tony agreed, missing the feel of the glass in his hand to hold up in acknowledgement. 

“So why aren’t you upstairs with Loki right now?” 

“I just figured he needed some time.” Tony said. 

“Sounds like time is in short supply. You should know by now that he would want to spend that with you.” Bruce said gently. 

“Ok, I lied.” Tony admitted. “I needed time. I needed time to break down away from Loki so he wouldn’t feel even more guilty than I’m sure he already does.” 

Bruce’s eyes raked Tony’s face and Tony could tell he was taking in swollen eyes, red nose and damp cheeks. Blessedly, he didn’t say anything, just nodded. 

“So, what do we do?” Bruce asked instead. Tony smiled, but not with an ounce of actual amusement. 

“What can we do, Bruce? It’s fucking magic. I still don’t get the shit as well as I’d like. I tried my anti-magic device but according to Strange and Loki, his magic is displaced and that’s the problem so...” Tony threw his hands up in the air in the universal gesture of who-the-fuck-knows. 

“Well, then we find someone who does know...” Bruce said. 

“Yeah, that’s all well and good, Brucie. But Loki is literally the only sorcerer, more importantly, the only shapeshifter from Asgard. Eir has no idea about this stuff.” 

“Yeah, but Loki’s a Frost Giant, right? So why not have Thor take him to Jotunheim to see if anyone there can help?” Bruce suggested like it was the most obvious answer in the universe. 

That was because it really was the most obvious answer in the universe. Where the hell did Tony get off calling himself a genius? Tony grinned, walked over to Bruce and kissed him soundly on the lips and ran upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! We're going to Jotunheim! I'm pretty darn excited for this! I hope you are too!


	11. What greater gift than the love of a cat?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Quote by Charles Dickens)
> 
> So... maybe a bit of a snag on the trip..

Loki jumped, back arched, as Tony came running up the stairs. He looked over at Thor who was staring at him with a very concerned looking frown. 

“Hey! Great idea!” Tony shouted animatedly. He was slightly flushed, but Loki was certain it was more the excitement than the run. 

“Hopefully, it relates to helping my brother and quickly.” Thor said, looking back at Loki, his frown getting deeper if that was even possible. 

“What happened?” Tony asked Loki, catching on the mood. 

“I have no idea. My brother and I were just talking. I told him about the issue, and then you came running up.” Loki responded. 

“How long ago did you tell me, Loki?” Thor asked then. Loki got the sneaking suspicion he wasn’t just being dense. 

“You were there, you oaf! It wasn’t five minutes ago that we were laughing over spilled milk.” Loki typed frustratedly. 

“Loki, that was twenty minutes ago. I have tried to get your attention since then, but you were distracted by the birds outside.” Thor said uncertainly. 

Loki’s insides froze over. He didn’t remember that at all. If it was true, and Loki had no reason to doubt it, this was very much not good. 

“Friday?” Loki asked. 

“Mr. Odinson is right, Loki. He has attempted to divert your attention from the balcony for twenty-two minutes before Boss arrived and startled you.” Friday confirmed. 

Loki looked up wide-eyed at Tony. This was all too soon; he couldn’t lose him. Bruce joined them then, quietly taking in the tone of the room. 

“What is your great idea, Stark?” Thor asked. 

“Well...” Tony started, looking at Thor and looking back at Loki uneasily. “It was actually Bruce’s idea. He should get the credit.” 

“The kiss was enough, thanks Tony.” Bruce said wryly. 

“Tony, I am shocked. That’s how long it takes you to move on?” Loki joked, or well, tried to joke. It landed remarkably flat and not just because of the mechanical tone. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll have you back here in no time and you can find an amusing way to get back at him for it.” Bruce assured. 

“Yeah... Idea." Tony started, obviously trying to recover his train of thought. “So, we’ve determined that there aren’t any Asgardians that can help you. What about Jotuns? There’s gotta be at least one shapeshifter out there like you, right? Or a mage or someone who has some sort of familiarity that can help?” 

“You’re suggesting we go to Jotunheim?” Thor asked. 

“Sure! I mean, you have the awesome bifrost axe. I can try to rig up some sort of communication device for Lokitty here. Why not? It’s worth a shot and it looks like time is of the absolute essence...” Tony trailed off, staring at Loki with a twitching frown. 

“I do believe you are forgetting a small detail...” Loki started. 

Tony looked adorably perplexed. He had been so invested in the potential of this idea, which granted was a good one, he was forgetting an actually quite large obstacle. 

“What’s that?” 

“The fact that I killed their king and tried to destroy their realm and all of them with it.” Loki said, and for once the uninflected speech pattern worked perfectly. 

Thor winced. Bruce frowned, and Loki realized he might never have gotten the full story. Well that should be fun. 

Tony’s face fell. “Yeah, that might be a bit of a problem. We could lie about who you are?” 

Loki just looked pointedly at Thor who had his stubborn face on. Their realm destroyed or not, Thor was King of Asgard and would not enter another realm without the proper introductions. And he wouldn’t lie. 

“Maybe they’ll let bygones be bygones? I mean, you didn’t actually destroy their planet and Laufey didn’t sound like a great king.” 

“It’s a risk...” Loki started. Tony’s face went hard, and he quickly continued. “But it’s worth it. We have to try, and I would prefer sooner rather than later.” 

Tony nodded. “Bruce, you coming?” 

“Uh, pretty sure I wouldn’t survive, and the Hulk wouldn’t be really helpful. Let’s go with...” 

“Boss, Ms. Pott’s is trying to get ahold of you.” 

“Yeah, tell her I’ll get her back, Friday.” 

“She says it’s urgent.” Friday clarified. 

“Yeah, well this is more urgent.” Tony snarled. Loki was just about to tell Tony that he could wait five minutes to make a call. 

“Tony!” Pepper’s voice came over the line. She sounded nervous. Pepper had never sounded nervous that Loki could recall. 

“Seriously, Pep? I wasn’t just ignoring you for shits and giggles. We’ve got something important going on. We may have a way to figure out how to get Loki back.” Tony was just shy of tearing into her, Loki could tell. If it had been anyone other than Pepper... 

“I believe you and I’m sorry, but it’s an emergency.” 

“What could possibly be more important than Loki?” Tony asked and despite the tense situation, Loki’s insides tingled at that. 

“I’m not saying it’s more important than Loki, but it is urgent. Someone’s found a hidden cache of Stark missiles. They are threatening to use them.” Pepper said quickly. 

When sorrows come, they come not in single spies but in battalions, Loki thought. Tony couldn’t ignore this. If he left for Jotunheim and whoever it was used those missiles, he would blame himself, always. 

“What do they want?” Tony croaked, the conflict clear on Tony’s face. 

“Nothing. They just wanted us to know who they are and what they were using before they did it.” Pepper said softly. 

The worst type of foes. Zealots couldn’t be bribed, foisted or convinced. They could only be stopped and quickly. 

“Call Steve,” Tony said resolutely, his jaw tightening. “He can gather everyone else. I’m going with Loki.” 

“Tony, you can’t. You know it has to be you. Who else could find them? Who else could disarm them?” Loki argued. 

Tony looked at him, eyes so lost. Loki knew that Tony was being torn apart from the inside, his mission conflicting with his love. 

“I can still go to Jotunheim and find the solution with just Thor; but the Avengers cannot stop these terrorists without you. You need to stay here.” Loki said firmly. 

Tony looked over at Thor and Bruce who nodded reluctantly. 

“I can take care of my brother.” Thor said. 

“What if you need help?” 

“We’re gods.” Loki responded. 

“You’re fluffy.” Tony responded. 

Loki conceded the point. He needed to end this argument quickly so Tony could get to work. “If it makes you feel better, we can bring Bucky.” 

“Steve,” Tony countered. Loki sneezed to show what he thought of that. 

“Strange,” was Loki’s final, reluctant offer. 

“Yeah, Strange would probably be good.” Tony agreed. 

Loki walked over to him and Tony bent down to grab him for a hug. Loki rubbed his face up Tony’s jaw; the man huffed a small laugh as Loki’s whiskers tickled him in his ear. It wasn’t a kiss; it wasn’t anything close. Loki tamped down the feeling of loss and frustration. He’d be himself soon; he wouldn’t be lost. 

“No matter what, you come back to me. I don’t give a damn if this is solved or not. But I really hope you can find someone to help.” Tony squeezed until Loki was forced to let out a mortifyingly small ‘eep’ of protest. “I’m so sorry. And I love you.” 

“I love you too, Tony.” Loki typed when he was finally let go. 

Loki looked over to Thor who nodded and activated the bifrost. Tony and Bruce waved as Loki and Thor made their way to Strange’s Sanctum Santorum. 

They landed outside, as the Sanctum’s wards didn’t allow the bifrost through directly. Thor knocked and they were immediately teleported inside. 

“This is unexpected. I thought I was coming over tomorrow to check in on you.” Strange said, sitting calmly. 

Loki hated visiting Strange in his Sanctum. The man was generally tolerable elsewhere at this point. Loki could sometimes generously even consider him enjoyable, but absolutely not when he was on his own territory. He was a study in smug. 

Loki sniffed, realizing that he couldn’t speak to Strange. In all the commotion they had forgotten that Tony was going to make him a device that would allow him to speak. So, Loki just looked up at Thor. 

“We’re going to Jotunheim.” 

Strange’s eyes lit with interest, but he kept his face neutral. “Really? What for?” 

Well, since you can’t figure out what is going on, we’re going to find an expert that can, Loki thought. 

“We need to find someone who actually knows what is happening to Loki and how to fix it.” Thor responded. Loki wasn’t positive Thor knew how much Strange had been trying to help. Either way it was delicious to see the annoyed look on his face. 

“And what does that have to do with me?” Strange asked, choosing to take the high road. Good for him; it was the boring road, but there was a dignity to it. 

Loki was already starting to feel more himself. He honestly hadn’t realized how listless and frustrated he had been until they had a legitimate path to pursue. 

“Would you like to come to help? Or would you like to snark?” Thor asked. If Loki had eyebrows, they would have been approaching his hairline. Apparently, Thor’s mood was tanking just as his was soaring. What had gotten the oaf so sour? Then again, they were about to go to the world of Asgard’s greatest enemy in Thor’s first real diplomatic effort as King, and it was so they could beg help. Not exactly the most glorious of purposes. 

“I can’t do both?” Strange, predictably, asked. There was a reason why they got along, well that, or annoyed each other to death. There was no middle ground with them. 

“I suppose since Loki can’t speak...” Thor allowed. Loki snarled, and that got a smile creeping onto Thor’s lips. 

It looked like they were off to Jotunheim.


	12. But I am a cat, and no cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Peter S. Beagle)
> 
> Sorry for the delay on this guys! Work trip got in the way! Hopefully this was worth the wait!

The bifrost dropped them down on frost-covered, scorched earth. They were surrounded by demolished structures that very clearly had been taken down in Loki’s attempt to prove himself. Loki shivered, and not just because of the cold. Thor picked him up and held him close to his breast. Strange shivered as well, and his cloak wrapped around him tighter. Then Strange held out his hands and orange magic surrounded them in a dome where the air warmed considerably. Even Thor, who could take the cold just fine, relaxed in appreciation. 

“Thank you, Strange.” Thor said with a bowed head. But he didn’t put Loki down. Loki wasn’t going to argue. Even with the magical heat, there was little they could do about the frozen ground and it had not been pleasant on his sensitive paws. 

“This way to the palace.” Thor indicated and started walking. 

“So how is this going to go? We’re just going to walk up to the King of Jotunheim and ask him for a favor? Are we telling the whole truth?” Strange asked conversationally. 

“How much do you know of Asgard’s history with Jotunheim? Of our personal history with this realm?” Thor asked Strange. 

“Oh, you know, the basics... Asgard and Jotunheim have fought; you’re arch enemies, but in the last war Odin took the Casket and therefore their power, and Loki, of course.” 

“And did Loki tell you of the circumstances of my banishment from Asgard those years ago?” Thor asked. 

He had not. As far as Loki knew, unless someone else had told him, Strange knew nothing of any of that. Strange confirmed that with a shake of his head. Thor looked down at Loki for confirmation that he could tell the story. Well, they needed something to keep them occupied during the long trek to the palace. Loki nodded. 

Thor told the tale well, and about as fair as Loki could have hoped. He might have phrased a few things differently, but all in all, it was the truth. Strange made a few pointed comments here and there but mostly listened attentively. 

“So you are telling me, we are going to walk up to the King, who’s likely a relative of Laufey’s, and ask him to help your brother, who committed Regicide before trying to destroy the whole planet, who also happens to be the rightful king of said planet?” Strange asked. 

“That’s about right, yes.” Thor confirmed. 

“I can’t believe I almost didn’t come; this is either going to be massively entertaining or extremely dangerous.” 

“Why not both?” Thor asked with a grin. Loki released an approving purr and nudged his brother. Sometimes Thor made him remember why he still called the other man ‘family’. 

But Strange had brought up an excellent point; one Loki had honestly not thought about before now. Jotunheim, like most realms, passed their Kingship along family lines. The current King of Jotunheim was very likely family to Loki as well; in blood this time, rather than the affection and history he shared with Thor. A cousin perhaps, maybe a nephew. Loki had absolutely no interest in fostering new family ties and he was sure that the king would feel the same, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t curious. 

Finally, after a good bit of walking they finally came to some structures. They were still crumbling, but were far more intact than the ones they had seen earlier. Once again, Loki cursed the fact that he couldn’t speak. He was fairly sure that Thor had absolutely no idea of the bargaining chip that Loki had access to or, at least, would have access to when he got his magic back. Still, they could start with Thor’s way. 

There were just two Jotun sentries outside of what must be the gates to the palace. Strange whistled once they came into sight. Loki realized that while Strange had heard him referred to as a ‘runt’, he would have no idea how much larger the giants actually were until now. 

“Runt indeed.” Strange said, looking at him in Thor’s arms. Loki hissed on principal. 

“Who are you to beg entrance to the halls of Utgard?” One of the sentries rumbled when they were in earshot. 

Loki snorted, beg. Did they know who they were talking to? 

“I am Thor Odinson, God of Thunder and King of New Asgard as it stands on Midgard. This is Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard and protector of this reality.” Thor paused and took a deep, cleansing breath. “And this being in my arms is Loki Odinson, God of Mischief, Prince of New Asgard and my sworn brother. It is on his behalf that I seek council from your king.” 

This was it, the moment of truth. The guard nodded to his companion who took up a brisk jog back into the depths of the structure. The rest of them stood in awkward silence. If Loki had been himself, he would have made a quip or two, and honestly, probably would have offended the guard and possibly gotten them kicked out or arrested. So, maybe just this once it was better that he wasn’t himself? 

The second guard came back quickly enough, though. 

“I have been commanded to take you to the king.” 

“Lead the way.” Thor commanded. 

The guard did so, weaving them through buildings in various stages of construction and destruction. Loki was fascinated as they had only seen one of the outer sentry posts the last time. Laufey had been waiting for them there, apparently wanting to make sure that they didn’t see any more of Jotunheim’s secrets, or possibly its ruin, than necessary. 

But the palace had fared far better than the outskirts, it seemed. That wasn’t surprising; but how pleasing Loki found the architecture was. It was all smooth lines ending in sharp edges; sleek yet dangerous. The colors were in all the shades of winter one could imagine, not just blues, but purples and teals. It was truly stunning. Loki chose to focus on that rather than the worry in his gut at how amazingly wrong this could go. 

Finally, they were in the throne room facing a truly massive giant leaning forward from the throne eagerly. 

“Thor Odinson, to what do I owe the honor of the King of Asgard’s attendance?” The giant spoke. 

Loki shivered; the giant sounded exactly like Laufey. Looked a fair bit like him as well, maybe a bit stockier, with a slightly less pointed chin. Definitely close kin then. 

“I believe the sentry told you our business here; but first, I believe introductions are in order,” Thor said. 

“I am Helblindi-King. Laufeyson,” Helblindi bowed his head formally. 

Laufeyson. Well, that did muddy the waters. 

Then again, Loki realized, he had known this, or at least the possibility of this. In the alternate timeline Loki had created where he had been king, he had apparently smoothed over relations with Jotunheim due to his ability to work with his half-brother, Helblindi. Now there were a few things that could have happened to make Helblindi not be king in this timeline, but he should have considered that this was the most likely outcome. 

But it really didn’t change anything. There was nothing that Loki could have done to really prepare for this. At the end of the day, Loki now had a brother. An actual blood-brother standing before him. And Loki had killed their father. He was certain at this point that he was screwed. 

Thor looked down at Loki briefly, a look of despair flashing across his face before he schooled it back to firmness to address Helblindi. 

“Well met, Laufeyson. You know who I have in my arms?” Thor asked cautiously. 

“King slayer; kin slayer; my eldest brother, thought dead.” Helblindi answered. 

“Was he not a runt abandoned to die? Who are you to begrudge those who would recognize his worth?” Thor growled. 

Loki hissed. This was not the time for that! Loki appreciated his words, but insult was going to get them nowhere. 

“Is that what you think?” Helblindi asked with a pensive frown. “Then what council do you seek here on his behalf?” 

“My brother is a shapeshifter, but he was forced into this form by his apprentice. He can’t seem to access his magic in order to change back. We have none of his kind in New Asgard, but we hoped that you might.” Thor explained. 

Helblindi’s pensive frown got deeper, before he smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. Loki got the impression that he looked tasty to the Jotun. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. But then the king turned and called out for someone named Lut. They waited for, who they hoped was, a sorcerer. 

When Lut entered the room, the breath in all three outsider’s chests caught. Lut was very much a Jotun, but he was not a giant as Helblindi was. He was old, slightly bent, but he couldn’t be more than seven feet tall. Tony’s words rang in Loki’s head. ‘Who gets rid of something in a temple though? It’s a holy place, right? They were keeping their casket relic thing there, so why put you there as well if they just wanted to ditch you?’ 

“This is Lut, one of my advisors and our chief mage.” Helblindi introduced with a sarcastic smile on his face. The king seemed to know exactly what they were starting to suspect. 

“Did my father not tell you when you were both here last that your father was a murderer and a thief?” Helblindi asked. “Who’s the liar now, hmmm?” 

“You were there?” Thor asked, off-balance by this change in topic. 

“Oh, I was. I saw you both. Loki looked a bit different at the time though.” The king answered with a wit Loki would have appreciated if he wasn’t currently going through an existential crisis. 

“Relax, no harm will come to you.” A voice in Loki’s head said. It felt old and powerful, practically ringing through his body. He made eye-contact with Lut who smiled softly. 

Loki tried to reverse the connection, not sure if he could without his magic, but trying to tug on the threat that Lut had initiated. “How can you be so sure?” 

“Because I know my King, and I know your history.” Lut responded immediately and Loki felt the connection dissipate. 

“Do you know what Laufey was specifically referring to?” Helblindi asked. 

“Obviously the war and the taking of the casket.” Thor responded. 

Loki rubbed a bit on Thor’s chest, trying to sooth his impatience. 

“Death in a time of war is not murder; you know that as well as any. No, Laufey believed that Odin had murdered my brother; why else had he disappeared? He didn’t realize that he too had been stolen with the casket.” 

“My father said he had been abandoned... because he was so small...” Thor trailed off, looking over at the still calmly smiling Lut. 

“I suppose we could be generous and assume that Odin didn’t know; didn’t realize that the smaller the Frost Giant, the more magic they were born with, and had no idea that Loki, small as he was, would likely be the greatest mage in millennia... but then again, that doesn’t seem very likely, does it?” Helblindi mused. 

It was easier for Loki; he had already accepted that he had been taken for less than selfless reasons. He now believed that Odin had come to care for him, in his own way, flawed as that might be, but had come to terms with the rest. Yet even with the lies that continued to make themselves known after Odin’s rule, Thor was nothing if not stubborn. 

“No, no it doesn’t,” Thor sighed. 

Helblindi looked surprised at the admission, and for the first time Loki could see something of his own features in his younger brother’s face. Norns, he had a younger brother. Loki wasn’t nearly as surprised, but he still didn’t give Thor as much credit as he should. 

“I’m sorry for what my father did, but I can’t say that I regret it as it got me a little brother.” Thor smiled down at Loki. “But, Loki did still kill Laufey. Would you truly help him?” 

“In my time as King, I’ve come to have a different perspective on my father than before, as I am sure you can relate. He wasn’t a good king; he wasn’t a particularly great father, either, for that matter. Not that he deserved to be murdered, mind you, but he made many mistakes. He allowed arrogance and vengeance to outweigh his common sense, enough that he trusted the God of Mischief to get him into the palace to kill who he thought was his own father.” 

“I knew Laufey was my father then; I too was ruled by vengeance,” Loki thought. 

“But you didn’t have all the facts,” Lut responded immediately. 

“I don’t think the fact that I murdered someone without having all the facts of the situation beforehand really helps my case.” 

“It’s not ideal, no. But I still don’t blame you for it, Loki.” Helblindi responded, looking right at him. 

Loki looked around startled. 

“Loki, you spoke!” Thor gasped. 

“More like my thoughts are being projected, but thank you Thor, I figured that out all by myself.” Loki thought, and now that he was paying attention, could hear those thoughts as if he had spoken with his usual voice. Norns, it was good to hear his inflections properly again. 

Strange snorted at Loki’s comment, which only made him that much happier. 

Loki turned to Lut, then, since it was obvious he had performed some sort of spell. “You know, this would have been easier a bit sooner.” 

“But not nearly as much fun.” Lut responded immediately with a grin. Loki groaned. 

“Did I mention Lut is our uncle?” Hellblindi had a matching mischievous grin on his face. It looked like Loki came by his humor honestly. 

“I’m doomed.” Thor smacked his head down into the palm of his hand. It put his face right in front of Loki’s, and he winked. 

“Yes, yes you are.” Strange agreed, patting Thor on the shoulder. Loki snickered, and it actually came out that way. It was quite odd. 

“I’m suspicious at how well this is going.” Loki said then. 

“Oh, you should be.” Helblindi’s smile could cut steel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have a set headcanon for the whole abandoned vs. not abandoned backstory for Loki, but its definitely fun to explore this side of it!


	13. You cannot live with a paw in each world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Erin Hunter)
> 
> For those of you fond of Helblindi and Lut (and there were so many of you, very exciting!) I think you're going to like this chapter : D

“What do you want?” Loki asked bluntly.

Both Strange and Thor looked at him like he was crazy, but he knew there was no use beating around the bush.

“What do you know about the ramifications of Asgard’s taking the Casket of Ancient Winters?” Helblindi asked calmly, as if Loki hadn’t just been unbearably rude.

“You can’t travel the realms; can’t rebuilt your great ice fortresses and structures...” Thor said hesitantly looking over at Loki.

Loki shrugged. Odin had referred to the Casket as “Jotunheim’s power” but they hadn’t been given many details. He knew that only a Jotun could wield it and he had been able to create great amounts of ice with it, but while he had known that couldn’t possibly be the entirety of its powers, he had never really thought to look into it.

“Yes, that was some of what it allowed us. It also gave us some measure of control over our weather; we could prevent the worst of the ice storms and the most impactful of the thaws. But one of the biggest losses is that no mage has been born on Jotunheim since it’s loss. Those of us born since can do little more than call ice to our hands.” Helblindi explained.

“So I...” Loki trailed off at the realization. That was interesting. He really hadn’t expected that.

“You are the last born mage of Jotunheim. Yes, and there were too few of us even when we had the Casket. No more than perhaps a dozen still live.” Lut cut in.

“So, what do you want from him?” Strange asked suspiciously.

“His help. We may have lost the casket, but we could use his magic to help shore up some of our structures; control some of our worst weather problems and contain what we can’t control. It wouldn’t be what we could do with the casket... but it would be something.” Lut responded.

“It seems like a reasonable request, brother.” Thor prodded.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Loki mused. “And what would be the time parameters of this request? Would I have to live here in Jotunheim?”

“Well, yes, of course. You could do little, especially to help against storms if you weren’t here to fight them.” Helblindi said. But then he quickly added. “You wouldn’t be a prisoner. You’d be able to leave and visit your brother whenever you wished.”

“Sorry, no deal.” Loki responded immediately. Strange made a strangled sound in his throat. Thor seemed to have forgotten that he held a small cat in his arms and his muscles bulged in his frustration; Loki let out a snarl, and Thor winced apologetically.

“Just like that? You’re willing to lose yourself to this feline form? How long have you been like this? A week? Two? You’re likely no more than days from being lost entirely.” Lut argued.

“You know this, how?” Loki asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

Instead of responding, Lut closed his eyes. There was a silver shimmer and the frost giant was replaced by a small white animal, barely larger than Loki was now. It looked a bit like a fox, but there was blue at the tips of its smaller than average ears, tail and paws. It also had the same red eyes of the Jotun, most likely they helped with seeing in Jotunheim’s darkness and as protection against the weather. The fox gave an adorable bark before turning back into the Frost Giant mage.

“Do you believe me now?” Lut asked.

Loki’s breath caught. Another shapeshifter, the things he could learn... but of course, he had to get out of this mess to do so. Damn it, was it really that soon? They were cutting it that close? “The reason I don’t want to be lost entirely is... there’s a...”

Loki felt awkward and tongue-tied. He hadn’t ever been one to telegraph his emotions or bonds, especially not to strangers; especially not to strangers he was currently bargaining with. He should just offer the Casket; he had it, they wouldn’t need him at that point, but something held him back.

“He’s in love with a Midgardian.” Strange said.

“Though he is no longer mortal anymore.” Thor agreed. “Loki would not be parted from him.”

Strange leaned over so he could whisper to Loki, “Homophobia isn’t an issue here, right? That’s not going to cause a problem?”

Loki snorted, but just shook his head. He was not going to go into that right now with Strange.

“As my brother says. Could we perhaps do with frequent visits? Maybe Lut and I could figure out a method of communication that would allow me to come quickly for emergencies?” Loki offered.

Helblindi and Lut looked at one another. Loki could tell they were having an internal conversation. He tried to wait patiently. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have an ace in the hole, after all. Finally, they stopped deliberating, and both looked hard at Loki. He did not squirm; but he had only partial control of how his tail swished back and forth.

“That would be acceptable. Ten yearly visits, with a vow that you will respond to emergency communication if physically able to do so.” Helblindi established carefully.

“Done,” Loki said firmly. “Now let’s re-Loki me.”

Strange groaned. Lut frowned in confusion.

“Ah, yes. I’ve picked up a few speech habits from Midgard.” Loki said. “Shall we get to work on changing me back?”

“There’s something that puzzles me.” Thor broke in.

“Really, Thor? Is this the time?” Loki hissed.

“How did you know Loki was Laufey’s son?” Thor asked.

The ridiculous oaf, missing everything... Loki’s brain stuttered. They didn’t introduce him as anything but Loki. How did they know? Was this a trap? Had he been played?

Helblindi laughed then. It was a rocky, rolling sound that seemed to hold genuine pleasure. “We may be cut off from visiting other realms, but there is nothing to stop travelers from coming here. Some still do, even though trade is not particularly lucrative. Several seemed to find it amusing to tell us of a play they had seen, The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard.”

Thor huffed a laugh and shook his head.

“Oh, I need to hear about this one.” Strange snorted.

“Well, yes... there was that.” Loki said awkwardly. Helblindi had answered the question, no need to delve any further. “Can we please get to the magic now?”

“Let’s get somewhere a bit more comfortable.” Lut said and gestured for their group to follow him out of the throne room.

Loki was surprised when Helblindi got off his throne to join them. Walking until he was step-in-step with Thor.

“I have to say, Brother,” Helblindi started. Thor’s arms tightened again at the word ‘brother’. Loki started purring without conscious thought to sooth him. “I’m reassured that it appears you aren’t interested in the throne.”

“Do you really think I could have claimed it if I had wanted it?” Loki asked.

“Oh, I have no doubt” Helblindi said easily. “With your magic and the fact that you are the eldest, the people would accept you in a heartbeat.”

“Well then, it is a good thing I have no desire for a throne, even if I wanted to live in Jotunheim.” Loki mused.

“Really? That appeared to be rather high on your list of priorities not too long ago.”

Loki looked up at Thor. “I got over it.”

“He got bored, is what he means.” Thor said with a wry grin.

“Well... yes. Mostly.” Loki conceded.

Helblindi chuckled.

They were led to what appeared to be a small library, likely Lut’s own workroom as he stashed his staff in the corner and moved around the room with an air of familiarity and ownership. He grabbed a large book from a middle shelf before settling himself on the rug in the center of the room. He gestured for Thor to bring Loki over and do the same.

Thor dropped him and then moved back to stand with Helblindi and Strange. Loki tried to meditate while the other mage consulted his book.

“So, it appears that you do not hold with the same segregation of magic that we do on Asgard.” Thor whispered to Helblindi. Of course, Loki could still hear it clear as day.

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“You don’t believe that only women should perform magic.” Thor said.

If Loki had been in his regular form, he would have facepalmed. Of course Thor didn’t know. Loki didn’t blame him in the slightest. Most of the knowledge of Jotuns had been cleared from Asgard. Loki, when he had found out his origins, had only been able to find the barest of details and he had to go looking hard. Still, Thor waving their ignorance and bringing this up _now_ , was just frustrating.

“I don’t...” Helblindi started, looking over at Loki with a dazed expression.

“They don’t have women, Thor.” Loki said. Thor just frowned at him. “They don’t have men either.”

Strange picked it up a bit quicker than Thor. “Single sex species? Interesting...”

If Loki didn’t have black fur all over his face, they could probably see him blushing. This is really not what he needed to discuss with his brother.

“But...” Thor started.

Strange elbowed him in the abs. “Later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, I'm in the single sex Jotun's camp.


	14. Anyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Neil Gaiman)
> 
> Getting close to the end! So, on that note... this was going to be my last time stone fic, not in any final kind of way, just I haven't had any new ideas for this AU, but... so many people have loved Helblindi and Lut (including myself) and asked for more that I was able to eek together another short-ish fic idea that will take place mostly on Jotunheim. However, it will be a bit before I get that one started. I want to focus on getting Son of Chaos completely finished. I've also got 2 oneshots I'm in the middle of and an AU that I am desperate to start. 
> 
> Hopefully that works for you guys! I've loved having so many of you stick with me on this from the beginning! Also, if you have any ideas that you'd like to see in this AU or even another one, please let me know! Especially if you are one of my regular commenters I'd love to include what you're hoping to see!

Lut looked up with a mischievous twinkle in his eye that made Loki sigh. He had obviously been paying at least some attention to the conversation that had been occurring while he read. Loki couldn’t wait to hear what he had to add. But the mage just winked.

“I believe I know the issue; I just need to confirm.” Lut announced, moving quickly to the task at hand. “Loki, would you mind if I laid a hand on your back?”

Loki shook his head and Lut laid a surprisingly delicate hand along his spine. Loki jerked as he felt the mage tug at the portion of him that was usually connected to his magic. It felt odd, like he was tugging on a string that would normally feel tethered but just snaked through Loki’s gut. It was disconcerting, and Loki let out an uneasy noise that sounded a bit like a quail. The fingers started stroking along his spine soothingly and Loki settled.

Lut just kept pulling and Loki tried to keep still. The fingers started moving a bit quicker, a tad firmer, obviously responding to Loki’s unease. Loki tried to concentrate on the finger’s movement, control his breathing, anything but that empty feeling inside. His diaphragm started to contract rhythmically, and Loki knew he was seconds from throwing up when Lut finally stopped.

Both mages just breathed heavily for a moment, trying to catch their bearings. Loki shook his body out and then arched his back into a stretch to work out the tense muscles.

“I don’t understand; he’s still a cat.” Thor bemoaned.

“It’s magic, Thor. Don’t hurt yourself.” Loki said, causing Strange to giggle again. Well, when he told Tony about this it would be a giggle, at least.

“Your magic isn’t gone, just displaced.”

“Yeah, absolutely no one else could have determined that...” Strange muttered.

“Yes, we were able to determine that much at least.” Loki said slightly more diplomatically. “Can you get it back?”

“No, I cannot.” Lut responded.

Loki felt dizzy. All the blood ran from his extremities into his core. He actually stumbled as his legs felt weak under him. He had been concerned, maybe even worried. But he had never really believed that he would fail. He had been certain they would figure it out, they always did. Hel, he had reversed time to save Thor from dying; he had defeated Thanos; he had won Tony’s love. How could _this_ be what ended it all?

“But _you_ can,” Lut continued.

“You asshole!” Strange barked.

Thor growled wordlessly.

Loki laughed. He laughed so hard he fell down. It sounded like this weird chittering and yowling that was overlaid oddly with his own laughter, but it was laughter and it felt so good. He was practically sick with it.

“We truly are related. That was cruel,” Loki said finally.

“Well, you are almost Asgardian,” Lut said unapologetically. Helblindi snickered.

Lut then went into the details on how Loki could regain his connection with his magic. Runa had used a lot of power, but it hadn’t been focused. The key was to return to where it had happened so that he could find the link between her magic and his. From there it should be a simple matter to follow the path to his own source, and it would come back to him when called. There was a specific way to do that Lut guided him through; it was a new way of thinking when it came to meditation and his connection to his own magic. If there hadn’t been a time crunch, Loki would have gladly stayed however long it took to learn whatever he could. All told, the solution was remarkably simple, and it made perfect sense. But Loki could never have figured out how to do it himself.

Loki breathed a sigh of relief. They were one step closer.

“Thank you for this,” Loki said sincerely. “I know it can’t be easy, considering what I’ve done”

“We're not being selfless. Your magic is more precious than all the jewels of Jotunheim to us.” Lut responded. “But even if it weren’t, I truly hold you in no ill will. It has been some time since then, and I know that had events gone differently, you would not have acted so rashly. I’ve lived too long and made too many mistakes to not be willing to forgive.”

Rashly was generous, but Loki wasn’t going to argue with him. They were getting so much less than he would have been willing to give. Still might give, actually, Loki would see how this advice panned out first.

“And you, as well, Helblindi-King.” Loki said formally. “As soon as I am back to myself, I will come back to establish our terms, if that is ok?”

“Of course,” Helblindi said. “Good luck, and we will speak soon.”

Someone like Tony would be suspicious at how easily Helblindi and Lut trusted Loki to hold his end of the deal and return. Mortals had no concept of the bonds that vows, and bargains created. Strange was looking at the two Jotuns a bit suspiciously, likely for that reason. Loki was sure they seemed too nice, too easygoing. But when they were certain they were getting what they wanted, why wouldn’t they be? The real test would be how they treated Loki now that he had committed to come to their aid.

It was rather awkward from there. Thor and Strange were obviously uncomfortable, and while Loki wouldn’t have minded more time to speak with Lut, and even Helblindi, he needed to get back to Tony. He needed to get back to being himself as quickly as possible, just to reassure himself that he actually could, if nothing else.

So, they made their way outside of the ‘city’, not planning on traveling quite all the way to where the bifrost had landed last time, but enough so that it didn’t disrupt anything. It seemed that Strange and Thor were as anxious as Loki. They were also oddly quiet.

“Why did you never tell me?” Thor asked finally. Ah, that’s what the quiet was about, at least on Thor’s end

It never came up, Loki thought. But, of course, without Lut, it wasn’t projected anymore.

So, Loki just looked up at Thor and gave him a bit of a shrug.

“It’s not like I would have judged you for it; I’ve always been fine with your feminine form, have I not?” Thor asked.

Loki looked uneasily at Strange.

“I think what Loki would say, if he could speak, is that it isn’t something that you just bring up in casual conversation, and the two of you weren’t close for a long time after Loki discovered it.” Strange said.

Loki was so pleased that he hopped into Strange’s arms. The sorcerer was startled, but instantly moved his arms to support Loki’s small body. Once he was stable, Loki curled up and started purring loudly. He then realized what he had just done without even thinking about it. He wasn’t particularly put off, Strange had earned it, but it definitely hadn’t been a conscious decision; just another sign of the cat’s instinct taking over.

Strange frowned down at Loki with a bemused look on his face. He looked back up at Thor. “Also, it’s really awkward to talk about your sex parts with your brother.”

Loki let his claws come out and prick through Strange’s sleeves. The man yelped, more in surprise than pain. Loki was sure he hadn’t done any real damage.

“Yes, I see.” Thor said, frowning at Loki in Strange’s arms. “Which, speaking of...”

“Nope,” Strange interjected. “You are not going to try to have this conversation with your _brother_ , while he is a kitten, purring in my arms. I am not going to have it. This is too strange, even for me.”

Thor’s smile indicated that this had all been completely intentional. If Loki hadn’t just gotten comfortable, he would have gone back to Thor for more cuddles.

“Whole family of trolls...” Strange muttered.

“Trolls? Where? Are these like the ones that my brother fights on the internet?” Thor looked around him with an expression of overdone anticipation.

Loki chittered.

Stephen was not amused.

Finally, they were far enough away that Thor could safely use Stormbreaker to call the bifrost. He did so and they were once again on the patio of the tower. Loki didn’t even look back to wish Strange farewell. He just jumped out of the sorcerer’s arms and sped down to the lab where Tony would most likely be frantically at work pinpointing the terrorists.

He was surprised to see that the lab was empty. They hadn’t been gone even half a day; Tony must have found the bombers more quickly than Loki had anticipated.

“Friday, where’s Tony?” Loki typed.

“Boss is in New Asgard,” Friday said. New Asgard? What was Tony doing there? “He’s currently unconscious in the medical wing.”

Loki’s vision went black.


	15. A Cat has Absolute Emotional Honesty; Human Beings, for one Reason or Another, may Hide their Feelings, but a Cat does Not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Ernest Hemingway)
> 
> You all seem a bit concerned about Tony... it's like you don't trust me or something...

Tony woke up with the worst headache he’d had in a while. For a moment, he thought he had gone on a bender, but then he remembered how much alcohol it would take to get him drunk. The rest came back quickly enough; ah yes, the terrorists. 

He may have slightly overestimated his ability to withstand one of his old bombs. He had forgotten just how good he had been at making weapons; even after all this time, they definitely backed a punch. Very unusual for him; he almost always correctly estimated how awesome he was. He looked around and found that he was in the Asgardian healing wing. Yeah, extremely underestimated the damage then. He was definitely feeling it now. 

His chest, especially, felt tight. He tried to lean up to get a better look around him, but it felt almost like he had the arc reactor, the original one actually embedded through his ribs, back. But as he moved the weight on his chest shifted and a little black cat stirred. 

Loki blinked sleepy green eyes at him for a moment before Tony being awake seemed to register. In a flash, Loki was up in his face rubbing and purring. The purring wasn’t like anything Tony had ever heard. Generally, the sound was very soothing in its rhythm. This purring sounded almost frantic, pitch rising and rising until he started to feel anxious, waiting for it to reach its peak. 

“Loki calm down. You’re freaking me out.” Tony said, running a hand along Loki’s back, trying to soothe the cat. 

Loki didn’t stop and finally Tony had to physically pull him back. He looked Loki straight in the eyes, about to tell him to get ahold of himself, but Loki wasn’t there. It was odd how Tony could just tell that instantly from his eyes. There was something about them that made it clear that the intelligence that usually shone through wasn’t there at that moment. 

Tony’s heart seized in his chest and suddenly his headache didn’t seem that bad anymore. Tony shook the cat in his hands lightly, just enough to get his attention, to see what he needed to do to get Loki back, if he even could. Instantly, Loki was there again; shining out from those wide green eyes at him. 

Loki let out a truly pitiful mew; he was obviously aware of what had happened. Tony put Loki back on his chest, then, but kept rubbing behind Loki’s ears. 

“It’s fine. I’m fine; you’re fine. We’ll figure it all out, I swear.” Tony said. 

Tony hadn’t really realized until this point how much he had been counting on Loki coming back as himself. He had a momentary flash of wishing he hadn’t woken up but chased it away immediately. He was Tony Stark. Stark men were made of iron. He would not give up. 

Loki’s eyes widened; he could probably interpret at least a bit of what was going on in Tony’s mind. But, of course, since they weren’t in the tower, they had no way to communicate. Shit! Tony was supposed to rig up a way for Loki to communicate in Jotunheim and he had forgotten! He really hoped that wasn’t the reason that Loki hadn’t been able to solve the problem. He would never forgive himself. 

Loki looked behind him and meowed loudly, and Thor came rushing in. 

“Stark! You’re awake!” Thor grinned. Tony had to give the man credit; it was amazing how he could grin like that even when everything was going to shit. 

Loki meowed at Thor insistently again. Thor nodded, apparently understanding what Loki wanted him to say. 

“We had heard that you found the terrorists and stopped them before they could hurt anyone... anyone but yourself, of course. Very fortunate that Loki had given you that serum or you would have been dead.” Thor said. Loki growled. Thor was obviously not following instructions. “Oh, of course! We were quite successful as well!” 

“What? Seriously?” Tony spluttered. “Loki, please don’t tell me your fucking with me by being a cat right now, because that would be cruel even for you.” 

Loki let out a meow that sounded sad and nervous. He went back to rubbing along Tony’s jaw, if a bit less frantically this time. 

“No, Stark, this isn’t a joke. The Jotun mage we met was able to tell Loki how to change himself back, but Loki needed to do it in the place where the event happened.” Thor explained. 

“Yeah, but we’re in New Asgard now, why isn’t he back?” Tony asked. 

Thor gave him that look that said that Tony was being really dense. He was way too good at it for Tony’s comfort. “You were hurt; we didn’t know when you’d wake. Of course, Loki wouldn’t leave your side until he knew you were ok.” 

Tony sighed. Of course, he wouldn’t. If Tony had been at all clear-headed, he would have known that instantly. Loki loved him. 

Tony grabbed Loki’s head in his hands again and kissed the kitten’s nose. Loki wrinkled it and pulled away growling a bit. Tony laughed. Just that motion hurt. Yeah, he wasn’t getting out of this bed to go with Loki, unfortunately. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” Tony said. Loki just sneezed. Tony was going to take that as an acceptance of his apology. “Now, I’m awake and I’m fine. Go, make yourself hot again.” 

Loki rolled his eyes, but he hopped down off the bed and went running out of the room. 

“So how did Jotunheim go? Other than getting the answer, of course. It had to be pretty tense.” 

“At times, yes. Jotunheim’s king is Loki’s brother.” Thor said. 

Tony whistled. “And how are you doing with that?” 

“I’m not sure. It takes nothing away from what Loki and I have shared, but...” 

“But especially with all that talk of you not being Loki’s brother when he first found out, and this guy sharing actual blood...” 

“He looks like Loki too, just a bit. He acts quite a bit like him, actually.” 

“Ah... You know you’ll always be Loki’s favorite, right?” Tony smiled, hoping Thor would join him. He did, but it wasn’t the bright grin from earlier. 

“The mage who helped us was Loki’s uncle. I think it will be good for Loki to have that.” Thor mused. 

“Something else bugging you, big guy?” Tony asked. 

“There were many revelations on this journey, some I would not take from Loki telling you, but...” 

“But...” Tony prodded. 

“Has Loki told you of the physical characteristics of Jotuns?” Thor asked. 

“Uh, Thor... you know I’ve seen him in that form, right? There were several days he had to look that way, and I’ve encouraged it often enough since...” 

“No... I mean...” Thor sighed and looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I mean their genders...” 

Tony bellowed a laugh. Oh, that’s what had the thunder god’s panties in a twist? Loki had to be enjoying this. 

“Ah, found out they’re packing both bits, huh?” 

“What?” Thor asked. 

Tony rolled his eyes. “You found out they have both male and female parts... well, basically anyways.” 

Thor frowned. “It hadn’t been communicated quite that explicitly to me, no. But...” 

“But what?” Tony asked, starting to get a little defensive on Loki’s behalf. Thor had always been pretty good about this stuff as far as Tony was aware. But if he was going to make a big deal about this and give Loki any reason to feel any more awkward in his Jotun form, Tony would... 

“I can’t help but think that maybe Loki would have been better off, growing up on Jotunheim.” Thor said in a rush. 

“What?” Tony was baffled; this was far from what he had thought. 

“Loki will give you the details I’m sure, but it was a sad revelation that Loki may have been more accepted on Jotunheim than Asgard. I’ve always wanted to do right by my brother, but even with knowing that, I can’t bring myself to regret how events actually occurred.” 

Tony practically melted. Thor was a big, blonde teddy bear and exactly the brother that Loki needed. 

“You know, I’ve often felt the same. All the shit Loki survived? I wish he hadn’t had to go through it, but if it hadn’t happened, we probably never would have met. Actually, I know we never would have met. Loki told me that story; he lived it, briefly. So, I would never actually wish for that. Because I could never give this up,” Tony said. 

He knew he probably had a soft, sappy smile on his face, but he didn’t care. He was reasonably sure that he wasn’t going to lose this now, so he could get a little bit sentimental. 

Thor did smile brightly this time. “You should tell him that.” 

“I have, to some extent, but I will.” Tony promised. “You should too.” 

Thor nodded. 

Not a moment after, a certain god of mischief came waltzing, yes actually waltzing, into the room. His arms were held open in a ‘take me in’ sort of gesture and he had a bright, shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Am I hot again?” He asked. 

“If I wasn’t stuck in this bed, I would climb you like a tree and show you just how much.” Tony said fervently, making grabby hands for the god to come closer. 

Loki’s grin got wider, if that was even possible, and he walked over at his leisure. 

“Well that, and the fact that my brother is here.” Loki said, leaning down to give Tony a light kiss. 

It definitely wasn’t enough. Tony grabbed the collar of Loki’s tunic and pulled him down for a deeper kiss. He moaned completely unapologetically. “Nope, doesn’t matter. Thor would leave eventually.” 

Loki snorted and gave Tony another kiss. 

“On that note...” Thor started. Loki straightened up and turned to his brother. 

“Thank you for your help.” Loki said, before walking over to Thor and initiating a hug. 

Tony thought about going ‘awwww’ but he really didn’t need to get stabbed on top of his other injuries. 

Thor released Loki with several manly pats on the back. “You are very welcome, Brother. I’ll leave you to catch up with Tony.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look at that! Tony's ok and Loki's ok. Only one more chapter to wrap things up!
> 
> Also, the adorable VictoriaGreenleaf drew a lovely picture of Tony sleeping in the healing room with Lokitty on his chest. Check it out!
> 
> https://victoriagreenleaf.tumblr.com/post/185885066011/tony-sleeping-with-cat-loki-based-on-the-beautiful


	16. Thou Art the Great Cat, the Avenger of the Gods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (inscription on the Royal Tombs at Thebes) 
> 
> Here we go!

Loki walked back over and sat at the edge of Tony’s bed. Loki held his hand over Tony’s head and a greenish gold glow surrounded his fingers. 

“You appear to be all right.” Loki said, running a hand caressingly down the side of Tony’s face. Tony leaned into the touch. Damn he had missed Loki’s fingers. Abruptly, the hand was jerked back, and Tony was smacked upside the head. “What were you thinking stopping those missiles by yourself?” 

Tony opened his mouth. 

“Oh, don’t even try to deny it! I got the whole story from Rogers.” Loki said. 

Shit... busted. 

“You are foolhardy and arrogant. If I had known that the serum would only have made you more so, I would have seriously considered finding an alternative way to extend your life. One that kept you weak but would at least not make you overconfident. You do realize that we can still die, right? It may take more than with mortals, but it is very possible and not something you should trifle with. On top of that, you aren’t actually Asgardian, we don’t know how much your limits differ and that is not something I am interested in testing...” 

“Loki...” Tony tried to stop the venting before Loki really got going. He knew that this could go on for some time. 

“You almost died, Tony!” Loki said, his voice catching. Tony’s frustration ebbed into guilt. “I spoke to Eir. You’ve healed remarkably, maybe even better than most Asgardians would have, but you almost died. I almost lost you because I wasn’t here.” 

“Well, to be fair, even if you had been here, you wouldn’t have been much help as a kitten,” Tony said without thinking. Filter, yeah, he really needed to get one, one of these days. 

Tony expected Loki to snap back at him, but Loki’s shoulders just slumped. Shit, that was even worse. 

“Even if I hadn’t been a kitten, I wouldn’t have been much help. I likely wouldn’t even have thought to go along. Not with you being less breakable and it being a hero’s mission...” 

“I know, Lokes. And that’s fine. I can take care of myself, and when I can’t...” 

“So, I told Rogers I’m joining the Avengers.” 

“I’ve always got the Avengers at my back... wait, what?” Tony took a moment to process that statement. “Seriously?” 

“Seriously. Rogers seemed quite surprised as well. Bucky wasn’t though; smug bastard.” Loki glared like that personally offended him for some reason. 

“After all my prodding, all my nagging this is what it took?” Tony asked. “Man, I should have gotten myself almost killed...” 

Loki stopped his comment by grabbing his jaw. “Don’t you dare.” He commanded, eyes flashing. But then his lips seized Tony’s in what was the world’s most mixed signal. 

“Loki Liesmith... hero.” Tony giggled when Loki pulled away. 

Loki scoffed. 

“Oooh... please tell me I get to design you a new suit! I mean, we probably can’t get any tighter than the leather you normally wear, but we can try.” Tony went on. 

“I am not changing my leathers, Stark.” Loki growled. 

“But we at least have to change up your helm. I mean, the horns just give off this devil-vibe that we can’t have with our heroes...” Tony continued, completely ignoring him. 

“The helm stays too.” 

“Oh shit, what are we going to have the action figure say? You don’t exactly have any catch-phrases that are child-friendly. We can’t have it commanding people to ‘kneel’. I mean, I dig it, but parents...” 

“I am seriously rethinking my decision...” Loki mused. 

Tony pulled Loki in for another kiss. Loki hummed in pleasure. 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too, Tony.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Don’t thank me yet.” Loki warned with a smirk. “Thank me the first time Rogers has to give me an order.” 

Tony laughed at that. In fact, he was still laughing when a loud bellow of ‘Loki!’ rang through the halls. 

Loki looked over at Tony then and waggled his eyebrows. “Looks like Thor got back to his room.” 

Tony wondered if Thor had gotten the thunderer nickname long before his powers, because his stomping through the halls definitely qualified. He burst through the door holding a very large, very dead, red-plumed bird in his hand. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Thor asked, shaking the bird as if they couldn’t tell what he was asking about. 

“You looked so jealous when you heard I had gifted Barton a dead bird, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t feel left out.” Loki smiled sweetly. 

“So, you think this is funny? A dead bird in my bed? Really, Loki!” Thor admonished. 

Loki huffed and waved a hand. The bird disappeared. “It isn't real. I don’t need to resort to killing innocent creatures to prank you.” 

“You put off coming back to show me that you were yourself again so you could play a prank on your brother?” Tony asked in a wounded tone. 

He must have played it really well because Loki’s smirk faltered as he turned to Tony. But Tony just grinned and pulled him in for yet another kiss. Yeah, he could keep doing this all day. 

“You adorable little shit!” Tony praised. 

“No, you are.” Loki corrected, kissing him again. 

Thor huffed at the fact that he was being ignored. So, Loki shuffled his weight onto the bed so that he was straddling Tony. It wasn’t the most comfortable position because Tony was still mostly prone, but he groaned in pleasure anyways. Thor snorted and left again, thundering back down the halls. Once he had left, Loki pulled back a bit and kissed Tony on the nose lightly. 

“We will carry on with this at home.” 

 

‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘~’~’~’~‘ 

 

Tony woke up from a dream where Dum-E had somehow taken over the world. Apparently, his fire extinguisher skills had gotten bad enough that the entire planet feared his wrath. It hadn’t been a nightmare, in fact it had been quite amusing, Dum-E still liked Tony and Loki well enough that they did just fine in their new world order. According to the stone dark of the room, it was still the middle of the night, so Tony wasn’t entirely sure why he’d woken up. 

Tony scooted closer to Loki, wrapping an arm around his chest to settle in back to sleep. He was a bit surprised when his hand met the firm roundness of a breast instead of a muscled pec. He cupped it a bit appreciatively and Loki murmured, shifting in her sleep. 

“Well hello there, Princess. I’m pretty sure that I went to bed with my boyfriend, so I wasn’t expecting you here.” Tony said, placing a kiss in her long, silky curls. 

Loki turned around in his arms, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to surprise you.” 

“No complaints here. But I am surprised. I figured after spending so much time on four paws, you’d be wanting to be in your regular shape for a while.” 

“Yes, well, at the moment I’ll take anything that can communicate via speech. Really, the worst thing was just being stuck in one shape. Of course, I’ve gone far longer in my usual shape before, but just the fact that I couldn’t change made me want to. I suspect this unexpected shapeshift will be happening frequently for a while. I hope you don’t mind.” 

“Mind? Hell no. It’s what I love about you. You always make life more interesting.” Tony said, stealing Loki’s lips in a soft kiss. The blazing smile he got when he pulled away told him that he had responded well. 

“What could I have possibly done to deserve something so perfect?” Loki asked. 

“Oh, so many naughty things.” Tony responded promptly. Loki’s brow furrowed adorably in confusion. “See, I’m actually a punishment. Ask anyone. Obviously those Norns of yours thought they were getting you back for all your wicked ways by saddling you with me. This? Right here?” 

Tony kissed Loki again for effect. She kissed back passionately, but when he pulled away again, she was obviously still wondering where Tony was going with this. 

“This is us giving them the middle finger. Because this? It works. It’s awesome. We’re awesome.” 

Loki giggled and Tony’s heart soared. 

“I love you.” She said as if she loved saying the words almost as much as she loved Tony. 

“I love you too.”

# The End

# 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ending on the tooth-rottingly sweet feels and I don't feel the slightest bit bad about it! 
> 
> And there it is! All is right with the world and now Loki will now be an Avenger! 
> 
> It'll be a bit before I have the next one coming out so make sure that you subscribe to either me or the series so that you don't miss it!
> 
> Thank you again so much for all your guy's support! I couldn't imagine having this many people actually read and enjoy my work; it's been truly a blessing for each and every hit, kudo and especially, comment! Thank you!


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